Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
I normally ignore the folks at Planet Gore (The National Review’s “environmental” blog). Well, ignore them is probably the wrong word. I read Planet Gore, but I just don’t bother responding to the sophomoric dialogue that passes for commentary on...
Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
Today Exxon Mobil announced record quarterly profits of $11.7 billion (this is not just a record for Exxon, mind you, but for all of United States corporate history). Yesterday, the Pacific Legal Foundation, a property-rights law firm, filed a letter on...
Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Reviving the World's Oceans , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy
The Washington Post reports that viral hemorrhagic septicemia, a disease often described as “fish ebola,” has been discovered in southern Lake Michigan and a reservoir in Ohio. Hemorrhagic septicemia is an invasive species, most likely brought into the great lakes in...
Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy
This case, like a cloud larger than a man’s hand, will hang over the northwest states of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming until there has been a final determination of the complex issues presented.Thus begins Federal District Judge Donald Molloy’s much...
Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy
Over at the ESA blog, Keith Rizzardi has a post up about NOAA Fisheries new “incidental take permit” for listed species of salmon and steelhead in Washington. Basically, because there are both listed and unlisted species of salmon and steelhead...
Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy
The Bush Administration always manages to top itself. No matter how inured I think I am to the blatant hostility this Administration has for environmental protections in general—and wildlife conservation in particular—they still sometimes manage to surprise me. Today we...
Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy
Last week I linked to one good reason for saving endangered plants and wildlife: wonder. But there are more practical reasons as well. As I've noted before, not least of these reasons is the fact that many of the...
Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
Well, I don't know what they expected but NRDC and our allies at the Center for Biological Diversity and Greenpeace certainly weren't going let the Bush Administration get away with trying to avoid dealing with greenhouse gas pollution and destructive...
Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy
Today is Endangered Species Day and I would be remiss if I didn't carve out a bit of time for a quick post (I just moved my family to NRDC's Chicago Office and have been kept quite busy given by...
Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
Just to expand a bit on David's very smart post about the White House's phony "regulatory train wreck" scaremongering over efforts to fight global warming with existing environmental laws, it's worth noting that one of the other laws that the...
Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy
The following is a post from NRDC Staff Scientist, Dr. Sylvia Fallon:On Friday, March 28th, the US Fish and Wildlife Service removed federal endangered species protection from gray wolves in the rocky mountain region. Within a few short hours reports...
Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
Just a quick note to report that NRDC, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Greenpeace filed a lawsuit this morning to compel the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to make a final decision about whether to protect the polar bear...
Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy
A few months ago, I noted that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had designated "critical habitat" for the Hine's emerald dragonfly, a beautiful insect found only in a few locations in the Midwest.Two places where Hine's emerald dragonflies can...
Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
For years, scientists have been concerned about the substantial increase of mercury concentrations in Arctic marine mammals such as polar bears, beluga whales, and seals. In some places in Canada, for example, levels of mercury in the tissue of...
Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy
Just a quick note that today, despite a mountain of biological evidence that they aren't ready, the Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it would strip wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains of their protection under the Endangered Species...
