GAINESVILLE, Florida, January 23, 2009 (ENS) – A coalition of conservation groups has notified the National Marine Fisheries Service of its intent to file a lawsuit as early as March if the agency does not act immediately to protect imperiled sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico. The action comes after fisheries observer data showed…
WASHINGTON, DC, January 21, 2009 (ENS) – In one of his first presidential acts, President Barack Obama has ordered federal agencies to halt all pending regulations until his administration can review them. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel issued the memorandum Tuesday shortly after Obama took the oath of office at noon on the…
SAN FRANCISCO, California, December 17, 2008 (ENS) – Regulations announced by Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne last week that would exempt many federal activities, including those that generate greenhouse gases, from review under the Endangered Species Act were published in the Federal Register Tuesday. But the regulations are being challenged in court by three…
SAINT PETERSBURG, Florida, December 1, 2008 (ENS) – NOAA’s Fisheries Service is increasing its protection of threatened elkhorn and staghorn corals in Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands through a new rule to prohibit activities that result in death or harm to either species. The new regulations took effect on November 21 and…
PORTLAND, Oregon, October 2, 2008 (ENS) – The nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity today filed five separate lawsuits in federal court all charging the Bush administration with political interference in designation of critical habitat for six western species that are listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The species include two birds,…
SEATTLE, Washington, September 11, 2008 (ENS) – A coalition of conservation organizations filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Bush administration alleging that federal officials diverted $350 million from the public treasury to forestry foundations “dominated by the timber industry.” The suit alleges that the administration violated federal appropriations law when, in September 2006, without any…
SACRAMENTO, California, July 11, 2008 (ENS) – The delta smelt, a small silvery fish that has come to represent the condition of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Estuary, may be declared an endangered species under U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service action announced Wednesday. The federal agency made a positive preliminary finding on a petition by three environmental…
WASHINGTON, DC, June 7, 2008 (ENS) – Five conservation groups have filed a lawsuit against the Bush administration over what they claim is an illegal delay in listing the Cook Inlet beluga whale under the federal Endangered Species Act. The suit, filed in federal court in Washington, DC by the Center for Biological Diversity, Cook…
SAN FRANCISCO, California, July 2, 2008 (ENS) – Three conservation groups filed a formal petition today asking the federal government to protect areas on the main Hawaiian islands as critical habitat for the endangered Hawaiian monk seal under the Endangered Species Act. As monk seal populations plummet on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, the main islands…
WASHINGTON, DC, June 5, 2008 (ENS) – A petition by environmental groups seeking renewed protection for a miniature Southwestern owl has presented enough new information to persuade the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that the bird deserves to be considered for relisting as an endangered species. The agency announced Friday that it will now conduct…
TUCSON, Arizona, May 23, 2008 (ENS) – The nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity today filed a 60 day notice of intent to sue the U.S. Forest Service for Endangered Species Act violations at Fossil Creek in central Arizona. Addressed to Regional Forester Corbin Newman, the notice states that the Forest Service has failed to consult…
WASHINGTON, DC, May 14, 2008 (ENS) – The Rio Grande cutthroat trout is declining and its conservation status is “cause for concern” the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said today. After a review of this native fish’s situation, the Service is recommending that the subspecies be formally proposed for protection under the Endangered Species Act.…
SAN FRANCISCO, California, April 11, 2008 (ENS) – A coalition of 14 conservation groups filed suit today in federal court to block the U.S. Forest Service from implementing a new rule that would remove protections for fish, wildlife, and other resources throughout the 192-million acre National Forest System. Issued earlier this month, the rule represents…
TUCSON, Arizona, March 30, 2008 (ENS) – Turtles collected in four southern states and sold as food are often contaminated with mercury, pesticides andpolychlorinated biphenyls, PCBs, according to a coalition of conservation and health groups seeking to stop the export of contaminated turtles to international food markets. The Center for Biological Diversity Thursday filed emergency…
PHOENIX, Arizona, March 14, 2008 (ENS) – The Center for Biological Diversity and Maricopa Audubon have won a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to continue Endangered Species Act protection for the desert nesting bald eagle, found mostly in Arizona. The groups challenged the Service’s 2006 rejection of their October 6, 2004…
FLAGSTAFF, Arizona, March 13, 2008 (ENS) – One of the great natural wonders of the world – the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River – is threatened by uranium exploration.Three conservation groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging the approval of up to 39 new uranium drilling sites within a few miles of Grand Canyon National…
SAN FRANCISCO, California, March 11, 2008 (ENS) – Three conservation groups filed a lawsuit against the Bush administration on Monday for missing the legal deadline to issue a final decision on whether or not to list the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act. The Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace and the Natural Resources Defense…
WASHINGTON, DC, March 1, 2008 (ENS) – Concerned that 10 penguin species are threatened by global warming, the Center for Biological Diversity filed suit against the Bush administration Friday for failing to take action to protect these penguin species threatened by global warming under the Endangered Species Act. The lawsuit, brought against Secretary of Interior…
HONOLULU, Hawaii, March 1, 2008 (ENS) – The U.S. Navy is violating federal law and a federal judge has enjoined the Navy from carrying out its undersea warfare exercises in Hawaii’s waters without adhering to additional mitigation measures to protect marine mammals. Hawaii federal district Judge David Ezra ruled Saturday that the Navy must use…
February 15th, Phoenix, AZ – The federal district court in Phoenix has upheld protection of 8.6 million acres of critical habitat for the threatened Mexican spotted owl in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado. For the Mexican spotted owl, critical habitat ensures that Forest Service logging does not drive the owl to extinction or limit…
SAN FRANCISCO, California, February 7, 2008 (ENS) – The Pacific walrus is threatened by global warming and oil development throughout its range and needs the shelter of the federal Endangered Species Act, the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity warned today, filing a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the walrus for…
WASHINGTON, DC, February 6, 2008 (ENS) – A federal district court Tuesday turned back the timber industry’s latest attempt to remove federal protections from the marbled murrelet, a small seabird that nests in the old-growth trees of the Pacific Northwest. In order to increase logging of trees over 100 years old, lawyers for the American…
JUNEAU, Alaska, February 1, 2008 (ENS) – A coalition of Alaska natives and conservation groups filed a lawsuit in federal court Thursday challenging oil drilling in the Chukchi Sea, which lies above the Arctic Circle between Alaska and Russia. Thirty million acres of polar bear, walrus, and whale habitat in the Chukchi Sea are scheduled…
SILVER CITY, New Mexico, January 23, 2008 (ENS) – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Thursday that it will not prepare a recovery plan for the endangered jaguar and will not attempt to recover the species in the United States or throughout its range in North and South America. The decision was signed by…
WASHINGTON, DC, January 17, 2008 (ENS) – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed six rare birds from around the world as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Fourteen years after first determining these species warranted protection, the Service responded to a series of lawsuits by the Center for Biological Diversity and listed…