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For Immediate Release
April, 01 2009, 12:57pm EDT
Contact:
Christopher
Lancette, The Wilderness Society (202) 429-2692
Judy Rodd, Friends of Blackwater, (304) 345-7663
Flying Squirrel: Bush's Prank Still Not Funny
Environmental groups call on Obama to restore protection for endangered species
WASHINGTON
George Bush has been out of office for more
than two months on this April fool's Day - but the West Virginia
northern flying squirrel certainly isn't laughing at the pranks the
former president pulled. His administration removed the charismatic squirrel
from the endangered species list last August, leaving the loveable rodent
hanging in, well, mid air.
Fortunately
for the poster critter of the state's mountaintop forests, a coalition of
West Virginia
and national environmental organizations today extended an olive branch -
filing a formal notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over
its decision to remove the squirrel's protection. This gives the Obama
administration 60 days to right Bush's wrong and avoid needless
litigation.
"The
Bush administration may have gotten a kick out of destroying habitat and
putting wildlife in danger, but we don't," said Judy Rodd, director of Friends
of Blackwater, a West Virginia-based conservation group. "The
decision to take the flying squirrel off the endangered species list was a
political move to allow more destruction of the squirrel's forest habitat
for energy extraction and development."
The
Bush administration didn't let itself get tripped up by facts, either,
according to Noah Greenwald, biodiversity program director for the Center for Biological Diversity
in Portland, Oregon. "Bush's decision to
de-list the flying squirrel was based on shoddy science," he said, adding
that logging and global warming are severe threats to the nocturnal
mammal's survival. "When you're a species that lives at the
top of the mountain and the forest beneath you disappears because the climate
is warming, you've got nowhere else to go. Even the flying squirrel can
only soar so far."
The
tiny squirrel who appears to fly with a brown cape when in flight is dearly
loved throughout its Appalachian Mountain homeland. Local protectors have even
rallied around a mascot representative of the species they affectionately call
"Ginny." The effort has caught the attention of some powerful
allies. U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV), chairman
of the House Committee on Natural Resources and long time supporter of the
Endangered Species Act (ESA), conducted two hearings on the issue during the
past few years. At a 2007 hearing on the ESA, Rahall said that the U.S.
Interior Department "seems bent on abdicating its mandated
responsibilities" under the law "to protect God's creatures
for future generations."
The
groups contend that the Bush administration illegally removed the West Virginia northern
flying squirrel from the endangered species list. They go on to allege that
Fish and Wildlife ignored an official species recovery plan and the
recommendations of independent scientists - pointing to a U.S. Government
Accountability Office report that concluded the agency failed to follow the
squirrel's recovery plan. The groups also say that the squirrel still has
a very small population, and that logging, oil and gas drilling, mining, road
building, and climate change threaten its sensitive habitat.
"We're
hoping that a lawsuit won't be necessary now that Bush is out of
office," Rodd said. "The 60-day notice we've given the Fish
and Wildlife Service gives us a very good opportunity to work with the Obama
administration to bring Ginny home."
The
organizations defending the flying squirrel are: Center for Biological
Diversity, Friends of Blackwater, Heartwood, Southern Appalachian Forest
Coalition, The Wilderness Society, and WildSouth. The organizations are
represented by Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal, a Washington, D.C.
public interest law firm.
Photos Available: Photographs of the flying squirrel are available for
press use. Contact Judy Rodd for
them.
Additional Sources: Contact any of the following for additional insight:
Noah Greenwald, Center for Biological Diversity, (503) 484-7495; Hugh Irwin,
Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition, (828) 252-9223; Ben Prater, Wild South
(828) 258-2667, and Leigh Haynie, Heartwood, (337) 962-6387.
Since 1935, The Wilderness Society has led the conservation movement in wilderness protection, writing and passing the landmark Wilderness Act and winning lasting protection for 107 million acres of Wilderness, including 56 million acres of spectacular lands in Alaska, eight million acres of fragile desert lands in California and millions more throughout the nation.
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Association of Flight Attendants-CWA president Sara Nelson was among those who participated in an act of solidarity.
\u201c\u270a #OneCrew\u201d— AFA-CWA (@AFA-CWA) 1683910072
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Thompson, who called Friday's nationwide informational picket a "resounding success," stressed that "United pilots will always be there for our customers."
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On Thursday, 97% of Southwest pilots voted to authorize a strike. (Of the airline's 10,000-plus pilots, 98% participated, with 99% expressing support for a possible strike).
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United's 14,000 pilots could be next in line to vote on strike authorization.
As The Associated Pressreported Saturday, "Pilots at all three carriers are looking to match or beat the deal that Delta Air Lines reached with its pilots earlier this year, which raised pay rates by 34% over four years."
"United has proposed to match the Delta increase, but that might not be enough for a deal," AP observed. Citing Thompson, the outlet noted that "discussion about wages has been held up while the two sides negotiate over scheduling, including the union’s wish to limit United's ability to make pilots work on their days off."
The nation's pilots "are unlikely to strike anytime soon, however," AP reported. "Federal law makes it very difficult for unions to conduct strikes in the airline industry, and the last walkout at a U.S. carrier was more than a decade ago."
"Under U.S. law, airline and railroad workers can't legally strike, and companies can't lock them out, until federal mediators determine that further negotiations are pointless," the outlet explained. It continued:
The National Mediation Board rarely declares a dead end to bargaining, and even if it does, there is a no-strikes "cooling-off" period during which the White House and Congress can block a walkout. That's what President Bill Clinton did minutes after pilots began striking against American in 1997. In December, President Joe Biden signed a bill that Congress passed to impose contract terms on freight railroad workers, ending a strike threat.
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Although Congress is highly unlikely to permit an airline strike, disgruntled pilots could still cause disruption through "work to rule," Arthur Wheaton, director of labor studies at Cornell University, told AP.
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