August, 19 2009, 10:24am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Kirsten Stade [PEER] (202) 265-7337; Becky King, [San Miguel County] (970) 728-3879; Amy Atwood [Center for Biological Diversity] (541) 914-8372; Mark Salvo [WildEarth Guardians] (503) 757-4221
Gunnison Sage Grouse Gets Another Chance at Protection
Most Populations Declined Again in 2009
TELLURIDE, Colo.
A western Colorado county and a coalition of national and regional
environmental organizations have agreed to settle a lawsuit against the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service challenging an April 2006 decision not
to list the highly imperiled Gunnison sage grouse under the Endangered
Species Act. The agreement, which was filed yesterday in U.S. District
Court in Washington, D.C., requires the agency to prepare a new listing
decision by June 30, 2010.
The agency determined in
March that its April 18, 2006, denial of Endangered Species Act
protection to Gunnison sage grouse was tainted by interference by
former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior Julie MacDonald and
other Bush Administration officials.
"We are eager to
secure protection for the Gunnison sage grouse as soon as possible.
Long-term viability of the species is unquestionably at risk now, and
every additional delay decreases the likelihood of full recovery," said
Commissioner Joan May of San Miguel County, Colorado.
The
settlement follows discouraging news this spring: annual counts
revealed that all but two populations of Gunnison sage-grouse continued
to decline in 2009. Some populations have been reduced to fewer than
10 birds.
"Endangered wildlife like Gunnison sage-grouse
deserve a fair chance at protection," said Erin Robertson, Senior Staff
Biologist for Center for Native Ecosystems in Denver. "After years of
political interference, it is time for a speedy, unbiased decision that
will provide the Gunnison sage grouse the help it needs.
Audubon
has identified Gunnison sage-grouse as among the ten most endangered
birds in the United States. The Endangered Species Coalition also
released a report last December listing Gunnison sage-grouse as one of
the most imperiled species in the country. Secretary of the Interior
Ken Salazar released a report in March, The State of the Birds 2009,
that found that western deserts and grasslands-home to Gunnison sage
grouse and other sensitive species-are among the most degraded habitats
in the country.
"We are keen to have federal
protections in place, not only to protect this species in serious
decline but also an important native landscape of the west that serves
as its habitat," said Hilary White, Director of the Sheep Mountain
Alliance.
In addition to San Miguel County and the Sheep
Mountain Alliance, organizations seeking to list Gunnison sage grouse
under the ESA include (in alphabetical order) Audubon, the Black Canyon
Audubon Society, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Center for
Native Ecosystems, The Larch Company, Public Employees for
Environmental Responsibility (PEER), and WildEarth Guardians. The
coalition is represented by attorneys with the Center for Biological
Diversity, San Miguel County, and Western Environmental Law Center.
"Gunnison
sage grouse populations and habitat conditions have worsened in recent
years," said Mark Salvo, Sagebrush Sea Campaign Director for WildEarth
Guardians. "Listing would help recover the species."
The
Gunnison sage grouse is distinct from greater sage grouse, identified
by researchers as early as the 1970s and recognized as a new species by
the American Ornithologists' Union in 2000. While its historic range
may have included parts of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona, the
species now occurs only in eight small populations in southwestern
Colorado and southeastern Utah. Gunnison sage-grouse have experienced
significant declines from historic numbers and only about 4,000
breeding individuals remain. Livestock grazing, oil and gas drilling,
motorized recreation, and urbanization have contributed to the
long-term decline of Gunnison sage grouse.
"If the
agency makes a new decision based on science and not politics, our
children and grandchildren may be able to see this iconic species in
the wild," said Amy Atwood, senior attorney at the Center for
Biological Diversity.
Revisit the role of Julie MacDonald in perverting science in the Fish & Wildlife Service
See constraints on Fish & Wildlife Service scientists
Look at the record of the new Fish & Wildlife Service Director
LATEST NEWS
UN Chief Warns of Israel's Syria Invasion and Land Seizures
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres stressed the "urgent need" for Israel to "de-escalate violence on all fronts."
Dec 12, 2024
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Thursday that he is "deeply concerned" by Israel's "recent and extensive violations of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity," including a ground invasion and airstrikes carried out by the Israel Defense Forces in the war-torn Mideastern nation.
Guterres "is particularly concerned over the hundreds of Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Syria" and has stressed the "urgent need to de-escalate violence on all fronts throughout the country," said U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
Israel claims its invasion and bombardment of Syria—which come as the United States and Turkey have also violated Syrian sovereignty with air and ground attacks—are meant to create a security buffer along the countries' shared border in the wake of last week's fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and amid the IDF's ongoing assault on Gaza, which has killed or wounded more than 162,000 Palestinians and is the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case.
While Israel argues that its invasion of Syria does not violate a 1974 armistice agreement between the two countries because the Assad dynasty no longer rules the neighboring nation, Dujarric said Guterres maintains that Israel must uphold its obligations under the deal, "including by ending all unauthorized presence in the area of separation and refraining from any action that would undermine the cease-fire and stability in Golan."
Israel conquered the western two-thirds of the Golan Heights in 1967 and has illegally occupied it ever since, annexing the seized lands in 1981.
Other countries including France, Russia, and Saudi Arabia have criticized Israel's invasion, while the United States defended the move.
"The Syrian army abandoned its positions in the area... which potentially creates a vacuum that could have been filled by terrorist organizations," U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a press briefing earlier this week. "Israel has said that these actions are temporary to defend its borders. These are not permanent actions... We support all sides upholding the 1974 disengagement agreement."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Sanders Says 'Political Movement,' Not Murder, Is the Path to Medicare for All
"Killing people is not the way we're going to reform our healthcare system," he said. "The way we're going to reform our healthcare system is having people come together."
Dec 12, 2024
Addressing the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and conversations it has sparked about the country's for-profit system, longtime Medicare for All advocate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday condemned the murder and stressed that getting to universal coverage will require a movement challenging corporate money in politics.
"Look, when we talk about the healthcare crisis, in my view, and I think the view of a majority of Americans, the current system is broken, it is dysfunctional, it is cruel, and it is wildly inefficient—far too expensive," said Sanders (I-Vt.), whose position is backed up by various polls.
"The reason we have not joined virtually every other major country on Earth in guaranteeing healthcare to all people as a human right is the political power and financial power of the insurance industry and drug companies," he told Jacobin. "It will take a political revolution in this country to get Congress to say, 'You know what, we're here to represent ordinary people, to provide quality care to ordinary people as a human right,' and not to worry about the profits of insurance and drug companies."
Asked about Thompson's alleged killer—26-year-old Luigi Mangione, whose reported manifesto railed against the nation's expensive healthcare system and low life expectancy—Sanders said: "You don't kill people. It's abhorrent. I condemn it wholeheartedly. It was a terrible act. But what it did show online is that many, many people are furious at the health insurance companies who make huge profits denying them and their families the healthcare that they desperately need."
"What you're seeing, the outpouring of anger at the insurance companies, is a reflection of how people feel about the current healthcare system."
"What you're seeing, the outpouring of anger at the insurance companies, is a reflection of how people feel about the current healthcare system," he continued, noting the tens of thousands of Americans who die each year because they can't get to a doctor.
"Killing people is not the way we're going to reform our healthcare system," Sanders added. "The way we're going to reform our healthcare system is having people come together and understanding that it is the right of every American to be able to walk into a doctor's office when they need to and not have to take out their wallet."
"The way we're going to bring about the kind of fundamental changes we need in healthcare is, in fact, by a political movement which understands the government has got to represent all of us, not just the 1%," the senator told Jacobin.
The 83-year-old Vermonter, who was just reelected to what he says is likely his last six-year term, is an Independent but caucuses with Democrats and sought their presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020. He has urged the Democratic Party to recognize why some working-class voters have abandoned it since Republicans won the White House and both chambers of Congress last month. A refusal to take on insurance and drug companies and overhaul the healthcare system, he argues, is one reason.
Sanders—one of the few members of Congress who regularly talks about Medicare for All—isn't alone in suggesting that unsympathetic responses to Thompson's murder can be explained by a privatized healthcare system that fails so many people.
In addition to highlighting Sanders' interview on social media, Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) pointed out to Business Insider on Wednesday that "you've got thousands of people that are sharing their stories of frustration" in the wake of Thompson's death.
Khanna—a co-sponsor of the Medicare for All Act, led in the House of Representatives by Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)—made the case that you can recognize those stories without accepting the assassination.
"You condemn the murder of an insurance executive who was a father of two kids," he said. "At the same time, you say there's obviously an outpouring behavior of people whose claims are being denied, and we need to reform the system."
Two other Medicare for All advocates, Reps. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), also made clear to Business Insider that they oppose Thompson's murder but understand some of the responses to it.
"Of course, we don't want to see the chaos that vigilantism presents," said Ocasio-Cortez. "We also don't want to see the extreme suffering that millions of Americans confront when your life changes overnight from a horrific diagnosis, and people are led to just some of the worst, not just health events, but the worst financial events of their and their family's lives."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—a co-sponsor of Sanders' Medicare for All Act—similarly toldHuffPost in a Tuesday interview, "The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the healthcare system."
"Violence is never the answer, but people can be pushed only so far," she continued. "This is a warning that if you push people hard enough, they lose faith in the ability of their government to make change, lose faith in the ability of the people who are providing the healthcare to make change, and start to take matters into their own hands in ways that will ultimately be a threat to everyone."
After facing some criticism for those comments, Warren added Wednesday: "Violence is never the answer. Period... I should have been much clearer that there is never a justification for murder."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Reports Target Israeli Army for 'Unprecedented Massacre' of Gaza Journalists
"In Gaza, the scale of the tragedy is incomprehensible," wrote Thibaut Bruttin, director general of Reporters Without Borders.
Dec 12, 2024
Reports released this week from two organizations that advocate for journalists underscore just how deadly Gaza has become for media workers.
Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) 2024 roundup, which was published Thursday, found that at least 54 journalists were killed on the job or in connection with their work this year, and 18 of them were killed by Israeli armed forces (16 in Palestine, and two in Lebanon).
The organization has also filed four complaints with the International Criminal Court "for war crimes committed by the Israeli army against journalists," according to the roundup, which includes stats from January 1 through December 1.
"In Gaza, the scale of the tragedy is incomprehensible," wrote Thibaut Bruttin, director general of RSF, in the introduction to the report. Since October 2023, 145 journalists have been killed in Gaza, "including at least 35 who were very likely targeted or killed while working."
Bruttin added that "many of these reporters were clearly identifiable as journalists and protected by this status, yet they were shot or killed in Israeli strikes that blatantly disregarded international law. This was compounded by a deliberate media blackout and a block on foreign journalists entering the strip."
When counting the number of journalists killed by the Israeli army since October 2023 in both Gaza and Lebanon, the tally comes to 155—"an unprecedented massacre," according to the roundup.
Multiple journalists were also killed in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Mexico, Sudan, Myanmar, Colombia, and Ukraine, according to the report, and hundreds more were detained and are now behind bars in countries including Israel, China, and Russia.
Meanwhile, in a statement released Thursday, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) announced that at least 139 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed since the war in Gaza began in 2023, and in a statement released Wednesday, IFJ announced that 104 journalists had perished worldwide this year (which includes deaths from January 1 through December 10). IFJ's number for all of 2024 appears to be higher than RSF because RSF is only counting deaths that occurred "on the job or in connection with their work."
IFJ lists out each of the slain journalists in its 139 count, which includes the journalist Hamza Al-Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief, Wael Al-Dahdouh, who was killed with journalist Mustafa Thuraya when Israeli forces targeted their car while they were in northern Rafah in January 2024.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular