August, 13 2009, 01:36pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Jeff Miller, Center for Biological Diversity, (510) 499-9185
Lawsuit Filed Challenging Improper Bush-Era Removal of Endangered Species Protection for Sacramento Splittail
SAN FRANCISCO
The Center for Biological Diversity today filed a lawsuit challenging a
politically tainted decision by the Bush administration to strip the Sacramento
splittail, an imperiled fish species native to the Central Valley and San
Francisco Bay-Delta, of Endangered Species Act protections - a 2003 decision
engineered by disgraced former Bush administration official Julie MacDonald. The
lawsuit is part of a larger campaign on the part of the Center for Biological
Diversity to undo Bush-administration decisions that weakened protections for
dozens of endangered species.
"The Bush
administration regularly put industry interests over conservation and let
politics dictate endangered species decisions, but the delisting of the
splittail was one of the most outrageous cases of political interference,
manipulation of science, and blatant conflict of interest," said Jeff Miller,
conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. "Three
investigations by the inspector general and a report by the Government
Accountability Office to Congress concluded that Julie MacDonald illegally
tampered with the splittail listing decision."
"It should
be a no-brainer for the Fish and Wildlife Service under the Obama administration
to clean up this shameful relict of the Bush legacy and again protect the
splittail," said Miller. "The splittail has severely declined since delisting;
federal protection is needed to prevent the extinction of splittail and other
native fish species that share its habitat in the Delta and Central Valley."
Conservation
groups petitioned for Endangered Species Act protection for the splittail in 1992 and the Fish and Wildlife
Service proposed listing the species in 1994. The agency delayed listing until a
Center lawsuit and court order forced the Service to take action. In 1999 the
splittail was listed as a threatened species. After litigation by water agencies
challenging the listing, a court ordered the Service to review the status of the
splittail. In 2003 the Service removed the splittail from the threatened list
despite strong consensus by agency scientists and fisheries experts that it
should retain its protected status.
The
delisting decision, which expressly ignored the most recent splittail population
trend studies, was overseen by Bush administration official Julie MacDonald,
former deputy assistant secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks at the Department
of the Interior. MacDonald resigned in disgrace following a scathing misconduct investigation
by the Interior Department's inspector general revealing the depths of her
corruption. MacDonald, who owned an 80-acre farm in the Yolo Bypass - a
floodplain that is key habitat for the splittail - edited the splittail decision
in a manner that appeared to benefit her financial interests. Two subsequent
inspector general investigations concluded that MacDonald should have recused
herself from the listing review process, and that she edited and interfered with
the scientific data used in the decision.
Background
The
Sacramento splittail (Pogonichthys
macrolepidotus) is a minnow native to the upper San Francisco Estuary and
the Central Valley. Splittail are primarily
freshwater fish but can tolerate moderately salty water. They are found mostly
in slow-moving marshy sections of rivers and dead-end sloughs, though
floodplains are important for spawning. The splittail once occurred in lakes and
rivers throughout the Central Valley as far north as Redding on the Sacramento
River and as far south as the Friant Dam on the San Joaquin River, as well as in
the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Massive water diversions and alteration
of important spawning and rearing habitat have driven the species to near
extinction. Formerly common in the Sacramento,
San Joaquin, Feather, and American rivers, the splittail is extirpated from all
but a fraction of its former range and now is largely restricted to the Delta,
Suisun
Bay, Suisun Marsh, and Napa
Marsh.
The
splittail is estimated to be only 35 to 60 percent as abundant in the Delta as
it was in 1940, and the percentage decline over the species' historic range is
much greater. Splittail numbers in the Delta have declined steadily since 1980,
and in 1992 numbers declined to the lowest on record. Although population levels
appear to fluctuate widely from year to year based on freshwater outflow, since
the 2003 delisting of the species available data (2003-2007) shows splittail
abundance has dropped to low levels for five consecutive years. The remnant
populations of splittail in the Delta require adequate freshwater outflow and
periodic floodplain inundation to thrive. Splittail are threatened by
unsustainable water diversions, the effects of dams, wetlands habitat loss,
pesticide impacts, and predation and competition by introduced
species.
The
manipulation of science for the benefit of private interests reached new heights
at the Fish and Wildlife Service under the Bush administration. By suppressing,
twisting, and ignoring information from its own biologists, the administration
illegally removed or withheld Endangered Species Act protections for numerous
species. In many cases, government and university scientists carefully
documented the unauthorized editing of scientific documents, the overruling of scientific experts, and the
falsification of economic analyses. Many of the illegal decisions were
engineered by MacDonald.
The Center
kicked off a Cleaning up the Bush Legacy Campaign in 2007, seeking to reinstate protections for 60 imperiled species and more than
8 million acres of habitat wrongly denied federal protection because of
political interference. The campaign has already met with significant success:
in response to Center lawsuits, the Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to redo
critical habitat designations for 19 species and reconsidered listing the rare,
highly imperiled Mexican garter snake as an
endangered.
Unsustainable
water diversions from the Delta have caused the collapse of many fish runs in
the Delta and Central Valley. Since
2002, delta smelt, longfin smelt, threadfin shad, Sacramento splittail, and striped bass have declined
catastrophically and the state's largest salmon run of Central Valley fall-run
chinook is suffering from record decline, forcing cancellation of commercial and
recreational salmon fishing in California for the second straight year. White
and green sturgeon numbers in San
Francisco Bay and the
Sacramento River have also fallen to alarmingly
low levels. The southern green sturgeon population was federally listed as
threatened in 2006.
Because
federal and state agencies have so mismanaged the Bay-Delta, California's largest and
most important estuary, courts and federal agencies have begun to order changes
in water export operations to protect fish populations. In 2007, an Alameda County court ruled that the California
Department of Water Resources had been illegally pumping water out of the Delta
without a permit to kill delta smelt and other fish species listed under the
California Endangered Species Act. A federal court also rejected a federal
"biological opinion" allowing high water exports and ordered reduced Delta
pumping. In 2008, a federal judge invalidated a water plan that would have
allowed more pumping from the Delta at the expense of protected salmon and
steelhead trout. Earlier this year the National
Marine Fisheries Service determined that pumping operations of the Central
Valley Project jeopardize the
long-term survival of winter and spring-run Chinook salmon, green
sturgeon, Central Valley steelhead, and orcas
that feed on the salmon, and mandated a 5-7% reduction in Delta water exports to
save salmon.
More
information on the Sacramento splittail
At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature — to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters and climate that species need to survive.
(520) 623-5252LATEST NEWS
Container Ship That Destroyed Baltimore Bridge Has Troubled History
The Maersk-chartered MV Dali—which lost propulsion just before the collision—not only was involved in a previous crash, but was also briefly detained last year over problems with its propulsion system.
Mar 26, 2024
The mega-container ship that lost propulsion before toppling Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge in a Tuesday morning collision was involved in a previous crash, and was cited last year for propulsion-related problems.
Newsweekreported that the Maersk Line Limited-chartered MV Dali—which crashed into the Interstate 695 Patapsco River crossing just before 1:30 am, causing the span to collapse and sending a construction crew into the water—collided with a wall in the harbor at Antwerp, Belgium in 2016. The accident, which was reported by Vessel Finder and other outlets at the time, was attributed to errors made by the ship's master and pilot.
The 9-year-old Dali was also detained by port officials in San Antonio, Chile last June after inspectors discovered a problem related to the vessel's "propulsion and auxiliary machinery," according toThe Washington Post, which cited records from the intergovernmental shipping regulator Tokyo MOU.
The ship's owner, Grace Ocean Private Ltd., and operator, Synergy Marine, "have been sued at least four times in U.S. federal court on allegations of negligence and other claims tied to worker injuries on other ships owned and operated by the Singapore-based companies," according toThe Associated Press.
Maersk was also sanctioned last year by the U.S. Labor Department for allegedly stopping employees from reporting safety concerns, documents published by The Lever revealed.
According to a July 14, 2023 Labor Department letter to Maersk regarding an Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation, the Danish company "suspended and then terminated" a worker "in retaliation for reporting unsafe conditions and contacting the U.S. Coast Guard."
The fired employee "engaged in numerous protected activities" including reporting a leak and the need for repairs to a ship's cargo hold bilge system, alcohol use aboard the vessel by crew members, and inoperable equipment including an emergency fire pump and lifeboat block and releasing gear.
The search for six construction workers who were on the bridge when it collapsed into the river was suspended until Wednesday, according toThe Associated Press. The workers are presumed dead by their employer, Brawner Builders. Local media reported that multiple vehicles plunged into the river and that two workers—one of whom was briefly hospitalized—were rescued from the water.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Pentagon Urged to Just Say No to AI-Powered Killer Robots
"The Department of Defense should declare its opposition to the development and deployment of autonomous weapons."
Mar 26, 2024
The watchdog group Public Citizen on Tuesday led a letter urging Pentagon leaders "to clarify that the Replicator Initiative will not involve the development and deployment of autonomous weapons systems," also known as "killer robots."
Last September, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks "asserted that the development of all-domain, attributable autonomy systems (ADA2) is an essential way for the Pentagon to maintain its comparative cutting-edge and keep up with the technological advancements of other states," notes the letter, which was addressed to her and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
"However, those comments failed to specify whether or not supporting autonomous weapons systems is one of the key focuses of this initiative," the letter stresses. "When addressing whether or not 'ADA2 means weapons systems,' Secretary Hicks stated: 'That's a serious question to be sure. They are not synonymous. There are many applications for ADA2 systems beyond delivering weapons effects.'"
"Autonomous weapons are inherently dehumanizing and unethical, no matter whether a human is 'ultimately' responsible for the use of force or not."
Public Citizen and the 13 other organizations argued that "this is no place for strategic ambiguity. Autonomous weapons are inherently dehumanizing and unethical, no matter whether a human is 'ultimately' responsible for the use of force or not."
Deploying lethal weapons that rely on artificial intelligence (AI) "in battlefield conditions necessarily means inserting them into novel conditions for which they have not been programmed, an invitation for disastrous outcomes," the groups warned. "'Swarms' of the sort envisioned by Replicator pose even heightened risks, because of the unpredictability of how autonomous systems will function in a network. And the mere ambiguity of the U.S. position on autonomous weapons risks spurring a catastrophic arms race."
"We believe the Department of Defense should declare its opposition to the development and deployment of autonomous weapons," the coalition concluded. "However, even if you are not prepared to make that declaration, we strongly urge you to clarify that the Replicator Initiative will not employ autonomous weapons."
In addition to Public Citizen, the coalition included the American Friends Service Committee, Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network, Backbone Campaign, Demand Progress Education Fund, Fight for the Future, Future of Life, National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, RootsAction.org, United Church of Christ, the Value Alliance, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom U.S., Win Without War, and World Beyond War.
The letter comes on the heels of Public Citizen releasing a report about the rise of killer robots, AI Joe: The Dangers of Artificial Intelligence and the Military.
The February report addresses the Pentagon's AI policy, the dangers of killer robots, the need to ensure decisions about nuclear weapons aren't made by automated systems, how artificial intelligence can increase not diminish the use of violence, risks of using deepfakes on the battlefield, and how AI startups are seeking government contracts.
The publication concludes with recommendations that Public Citizen president Robert Weissman echoed in a statement Tuesday.
"The United States should state plainly that it will not create or deploy killer robots and should work to advance global treaty negotiations to ban such weapons," Weissman said. "At minimum, the United States should commit that the Replicator Initiative will not involve the use of autonomous weapons."
"Ambiguity about the Replicator program essentially ensures a catastrophic arms race over autonomous weapons," he added. "That's a race in which all of humanity is the loser."
Keep ReadingShow Less
12 Palestinians Drown Trying to Retrieve Airdropped Gaza Aid From Sea
One campaigner called the incident "another deadly example of why airdrops are not the answer to famine in Gaza."
Mar 26, 2024
Human rights defenders on Tuesday pointed to the drowning deaths of 12 Palestinians trying to retrieve humanitarian aid parcels airdropped off the Gaza shore as yet another reason why Israel must stop blocking aid from entering the embattled strip by land.
Video published on social media shows Palestinians running toward the Mediterranean Sea in Beit Lahia as aid parcels parachute downward. Eyewitness Abu Mohammad toldCNN that the people who drowned "don't know how to swim."
"There were strong currents and all the parachutes fell in the water," Mohammad said. "People want to eat and are hungry. I haven't been able to receive anything."
Ramy Abdu, chair of the Geneva-based group Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, said that some of the victims died after becoming entangled in parachute ropes.
BREAKING| 9 Palestinians drowned and 5 others missing in the Sea of Gaza while trying to get humanitarian airdrop aid due to falling into the sea. pic.twitter.com/tSPpbrKsTg
— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) March 26, 2024
According to the U.S. military—which along with Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Singapore has been airdropping aid into Gaza—parachute malfunctions caused three of the 80 parcels dropped to land in the sea. The Pentagon did not say which country carried out the drop.
Earlier this month, five children were crushed to death and numerous other Palestinians were injured by U.S.-airdropped parcels on which the parachutes apparently malfunctioned.
The airdrops come amid widespread and increasingly deadly starvation in Gaza, where Israeli forces have been accused of using hunger as a weapon of war. Last month, Michael Fakhri, the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food, called Israel's forced starvation of Gazans part of "a situation of genocide" in the besieged enclave, where more than 114,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded by Israeli forces since October 7 and around 2 million people out of a population of 2.3 million have been forcibly displaced.
While Israel claims there are no limits on aid entering Gaza by land, Israeli officials said Monday that United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East trucks would be blocked from entering northern Gaza. Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked aid convoys and their police escorts, forcing UNRWA to suspend humanitarian deliveries.
Israeli forces have also on several occasions attacked starving Palestinians as they desperately attempt to get food for their families, including in the February 29 "
Flour Massacre" that left more than 870 Gazans dead or wounded.
Also blocking humanitarian aid from reaching starving Palestinians are Israeli civilians who have camped at border crossings to prevent convoys from entering Gaza. Last month, right-wing extremists set up a giant inflatable children's bouncy castle where aid trucks are meant to pass through the Kerem Shalom border crossing in an effort to lend a festive atmosphere to the action.
Medical Aid for Palestinians, a London-based humanitarian group, said Tuesday that "airdrops will not end famine and are a dangerous proposed 'solution.'"
Palestinians in Gaza expressed similar sentiments.
"We call for the opening of the crossings in a proper fashion," Mohammad told CNN, "but these humiliating methods are not acceptable."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular