Conservation

Feds Rush To Ease Endangered Species Rules

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:06:31 -0400

by Dina Cappiello

WASHINGTON - Rushing to ease endangered species rules before President Bush leaves office, Interior Department officials are attempting to review 200,000 comments from the public in just 32 hours, according to an e-mail obtained by The Associated Press.

Idaho Forests in Peril

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:07:02 -0400

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 16, 2008

Conservation Groups

Regional and national conservation groups denounced a new state policy going into effect today that removes virtually all protection from more than 400,000 acres of national roadless forest in Idaho. The state plan promoted by the Bush administration also opens millions of acres of roadless forests to road construction, logging and mining.

Deadlines Set For Designating Polar Bear Habitat

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:36:21 -0400

by Dan Joling

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The federal government will designate "critical habitat" for polar bears off Alaska's coast, a decision that could add restrictions to future offshore petroleum exploration or drilling.

Federal law prohibits agencies from taking actions that may adversely modify critical habitat and interfere with polar bear recovery. That likely will affect oil and gas activity, said Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity, one of three groups that sued to force the critical habitat designation.

One In Four Mammals Risks Extinction

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:23:28 -0400

by Alister Doyle

BARCELONA, Spain - A quarter of the world's mammals are threatened with extinction, an international survey showed on Monday, and the destruction of habitats and hunting are the major causes.

The report, the most comprehensive to date by 1,700 researchers, showed populations of half of all 5,487 species of mammals were in decline. Mammals range in size from blue whales to Thailand's insect-sized bumblebee bat.

Conservation Groups Assail Bush Endangered Species Rewrite on Hill

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:16:53 -0400

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 24, 2008

Conservation Groups

Today, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is holding a hearing on the Bush Administration's environmental record and their new proposed regulation to severely weaken the Endangered Species Act. The groups called on Congress to stop this new regulation that would gut one of our nation's most important conservation laws.

Wetlands - Nature's 'Horizontal Levees' - Blunt Storm Damage

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:39:28 -0400

by Judy Benson

In 1960, Hurricane Donna taught Bob Fish a lesson he's never forgotten.

Fish lived then on the west side of Old Saybrook close to the Long Island Sound shoreline. As Donna's 100-mph winds swept through southeastern Connecticut, he recalled, the Great Hammock tidal marsh between his neighborhood and the Sound filled quickly with waters from the storm surge. Some roads in the neighborhood flooded, but homes and other property were for the most part spared.

The Evolution of John McCain

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 10:01:02 -0400

by Chip Ward

Despite the media feeding frenzy, we still may be asking ourselves, "Just who exactly is Sarah Palin?" Mixed in with the Davy-Crockett-meets-SuperMom vignettes -- all those moose hunting, ice fishing, snowmobiling, baby-juggling, and hockey-momming moments -- we've also learned that she doesn't care much for her former brother-in-law and wasn't afraid to use her office to go after his job as a state trooper; that she was for the "bridge to nowhere" before she was against it; that she's against earmarks unless they benefit her constituents; that she can deliver a

Groups Call for Action on 21 September: International Day Against Monoculture Tree Plantations

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:30:55 -0400

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 18, 2008

World Rainforest Movement, Friends of the Earth International, Global Forest Coalition

Large-scale monoculture tree plantations cause serious environmental, social and economic impacts on local communities.

More Cell Towers, WI-FI and Web-Cams Coming to Yellowstone

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:29:42 -0400

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 18, 2008

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)

A new plan for Yellowstone National Park will greatly expand cell phone, internet and wireless web coverage in high-visitation areas, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). This Wireless Communications Service Plan for Yellowstone was unveiled on Wednesday in the hope of ending a four-year moratorium on new permits for cell towers and related facilities.

Industry Lawyers Directed Baca Wildlife Refuge Drilling Study

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:18:38 -0400

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 18, 2008

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)

Industry attorneys have improperly collaborated with Bush administration officials in an ongoing attempt to pave the way for oil and gas exploration in Colorado's newest national wildlife refuge, newly disclosed documents show. Emails, memos and other records show lawyers in the U.S. Interior Department allowed lobbyists and attorneys for the Canadian firm, Lexam Inc., to improperly influence the analysis of Lexam's plan to drill exploratory wells in the Baca National Wildlife Refuge.