October, 31 2012, 11:12am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Dr. Robin Silver, Center for Biological Diversity, (602) 799-3275
Mark Larson, Maricopa Audubon Society, (480) 310-3261
Suit Filed, Once Again, to Protect Southwest's Desert Nesting Bald Eagles
The Center for Biological Diversity and Maricopa Audubon Society today returned to U.S. District Court in Phoenix for the third time to file a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to provide Endangered Species Act protection for the Southwest's desert nesting bald eagles.
PHOENIX
The Center for Biological Diversity and Maricopa Audubon Society today returned to U.S. District Court in Phoenix for the third time to file a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to provide Endangered Species Act protection for the Southwest's desert nesting bald eagles. Fish and Wildlife administrators have opposed protecting desert nesting bald eagles since Oct. 6, 2004, when the Center and Maricopa Audubon petitioned to protect this isolated, distinctive population as endangered.
"Judges have ordered Fish and Wildlife Service back to the drawing board twice already. This time, we'll count on the agency to make its decision based on science instead of politics," said Dr. Robin Silver of the Center.
The latest lawsuit challenges Fish and Wildlife's most recent refusal to recognize the fact that for three decades scientists have acknowledged that desert bald eagles constitute an isolated population, adapted to a unique, hot and dry environment, that is important to the conservation of bald eagles as a species. Fish and Wildlife administrators have issued "marching orders" to subordinates against protection for the desert-dwelling eagles; the agency has even created new standards, outside the legal rulemaking process, that make it much more difficult for the eagle to qualify for protection.
Fewer than 60 breeding pairs of this unique and isolated eagle population survive.
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.
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Amid Spying Fight, House Passes Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act
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While applauding the U.S. House of Representatives' bipartisan passage of a bill to ensure that "law enforcement and intelligence agencies can't do an end-run around the Constitution by buying information from data brokers" on Wednesday, privacy advocates highlighted that Congress is trying to extend and expand a long-abused government spying program.
The House voted 219-199 for Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act (FANFSA), which won support from 96 Democrats and 123 Republicans, including the lead sponsor, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio). Named for the constitutional amendment that protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, H.R. 4639 would close what campaigners call the data broker loophole.
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The House notably included an amendment forcing a wide range of individuals and businesses to cooperate with government spying operations but rejected an amendment that would have added a warrant requirement to the bill, which the Senate could vote on as soon as Thursday.
Noting those decisions on the FISA reauthorization legislation, Ruddock stressed that "today's vote is a victory but follows a recent loss and ongoing threat as that Section 702 bill moves to the Senate this week too."
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Jeramie Scott, senior counsel and director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center's Project on Surveillance Oversight, also praised the House's FANFSA passage on Wednesday.
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As The Intercept's Ken Klippenstein and Daniel Boguslaw noted:
Since 2011, the U.N. Security Council has rejected the Palestinian Authority's request for full member status. On April 2, the Palestinian Observer Mission to the U.N. requested that the council once again take up consideration of its membership application. According to the first State Department cable, U.N. meetings since the beginning of April suggest that Algeria, China, Guyana, Mozambique, Russia, Slovenia, Sierra Leone, and Malta support granting Palestine full membership to the U.N. It also says that France, Japan, and Korea are undecided, while the United Kingdom will likely abstain from a vote.
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