Northern Saw-Whet Owl photo by James D. Thompson

ACTION ALERT FROM THE CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

Right now, the Obama administration is accepting comments on a draft policy interpreting the phrase “significant portion of its range” (SPOIR), which specifies that if a species is at risk of extinction in any significant portion of range, it shall be protected.

This provision has played a key role in the recovery of the bald eagle, grizzly bear and many other iconic wildlife species, ensuring that animals and plants receive protection before they’re past the point of saving by providing protection to species in important parts of their home ranges.

The draft policy would limit species protection. Please tell the Obama administration to scrap this disastrous policy proposal and develop one that will truly protect species when they are at risk in significant portions of their range.

To read the full story and take action go here.

Gray Wolf (Canus lupis) photo courtesy of Rocky Mountain Tracking

Our environment is under attack by the United States Congress! Current members in the U.S. House of Representatives have cast the most anti-environment votes of any Congress in history.

You can read the minority report in its entirety from the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce here.

The conclusion of this report is:

1. The House was in session for 165 legislative days in 2011 and took 191 anti-environment votes during that period. On average, the House Republicans averaged more than one anti-environmental vote for every day the House was in session.
2. More than one in five of the roll call votes taken in 2011 – 22% – were votes to undermine environmental protections.
3. On average, 228 Republican members of the House – 94% of the Republican members – voted for the anti-environment position during these roll call votes.
4. On average, 165 Democratic members of the House – 86% of the Democratic members – voted for the pro-environment position.
5. The anti-environment votes included 27 votes to block action to address climate change, 77 votes to undermine Clean Air Act protections, 28 votes to undermine Clean Water Act protections, and 47 votes to weaken protection of public lands and coastal waters.
6. The Environmental Protection Agency was the target of 114 of these votes; the Department of the Interior was the target of 35 of these votes; and the Department of Energy was the target of 31 of these votes.

I don’t know about you, but this kind of news scares the hell out of me! We obviously need to keep an eye on our elected officials and write letters or send emails to our representatives when they are doing the right things, and most definitely when they are doing harm to our environment.

When congress begins erasing the environmental safeguards we have been putting in place for decades and strips away protection for the planet’s biodiversity, we need to act.

You can check out how your legislators are doing by checking this Conservation Report Card from Defenders of Wildlife. You can look up records of individual Congressmen both from the House and Senate on that page.

I found this cartoon from Joe Liccar depicting the U.S. Congress score card and thought it was way too generous.

Personally, I would give them a FAIL!

Washington, D.C. — Today, the Obama administration rejected the permit for the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline sought by Canadian oil firm TransCanada, determining that the project was not in the national interest.

President Obama listened to the American people and stood up to Big Oil by rejecting a critical permit for the tar sands pipeline. His game-changing decision represents a victory of historic proportions for hundreds of thousands of committed environmental activists who have waged an uphill, years-long fight against one of the most destructive fossil fuel projects of our time.

Get the facts on the Keystone Pipeline because knowledge is power.

1. Energy Security: Tar Sand will not Reduce Dependence on Foreign Oil
2. Gas prices: Keystone XL will increase gas prices for Americans—Especially Farmers
3. Jobs: TransCanada’s jobs projections are vastly inflated
4. Safety: A rupture in the Keystone XL pipeline could cause a BP style oil spill in America’s heartland, over the source of fresh drinking water for 2 million people. NASA’s top climate scientist says that fully developing the tar sands in Canada would mean “essentially game over” for the climate
5. Climate Change: Keystone XL is the fuse to North America’s biggest carbon bomb

Read a full report from Oil Change International showing that the purpose of the pipeline is to give Canadian tar sands producers access to international markets not to supply America with cheaper oil from a “friendlier government.”

Big Oil is sure to fight back and we are mobilizing the public to fend off new attempts in Congress to gain approval for the tar sands pipeline. As House Speaker John Boehner said “This is not the end of the fight. The Republicans in congress will continue to push this.”

I urge everyone concerned with the environment to send a “thank you” to President Obama for rejecting the Keystone Pipeline proposal, a project which would further harm the environment with absolutely no benefit to our country or our citizens.

Links to online thank you letters from environmental organizations:

Friends of the Earth

National Resources Defense Council

Sierra Club 

Endangered Species Coalition

Here are links to my articles on the Tar Sands Oil:

Tar Sands Oil Expansion Threatens North America’s Premier Bird Nesting Grounds

Birds At Risk: The Importance of Canada’s Boreal Wetlands and Waterways

Tar Sands Oil Development Could Claim More Than 160 Million Boreal Birds

Photo courtesy of USFWS

Conservation officials are offering a reward for information about the person who shot and killed the whooping crane in Jackson County. Officials determined the male bird died from a shotgun wound.

Whooping Cranes reached a low of only sixteen birds in North America in the winter of 1941-1942, and numbered under 35 birds over the next two decades. With extensive efforts of concerned people and organizations since the 1970′s, their numbers have grown to only around 500 individuals.

With Sandhill Crane hunting legal in ten states in the Central Flyway, and a hunting season just opened in Kentucky that runs until January 15th, or until 400 birds are killed, the chance of killing endangered Whooping Cranes seems to be more and more likely.

But don’t worry, where Sandhill Cranes are hunted in the Central Flyway like Kansas, the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism gives hunters a link to the US Fish and Wildlife Service stating  ”The purpose of this web site is to provide waterfowl and sandhill crane hunters with information that will reduce the likelihood of shooting illegally at migratory birds that may look like sandhill cranes, but for which there is no open season and are protected by Federal law.”

The US Fish and Wildlife Service site then states “Some of these protected species have been designated as threatened or endangered (e.g., whooping crane) and are further protected by the Endangered Species Act. Sandhill crane hunters in the Central Flyway need to be particularly cautious about the presence of whooping cranes during sandhill crane hunting seasons. The penalty for the unlawful take of an endangered species is a fine of up to $100,000 and/or up to 1 year in jail. If you see anyone shoot a whooping crane, you may be eligible for a reward up to $2,500 for information leading to the arrest of that person.”

I wish I knew who shot that endangered Whooping Crane!

The American Bird Conservancy (ABC) petition presents a viable alternative to inadequate, unenforceable voluntary guidelines drafted by the government.

(Washington, D.C., December 14, 2011) American Bird Conservancy (ABC), the nation’s leading bird conservation organization, today formally petitioned the U.S. Department of the Interior to protect millions of birds from the negative impacts of wind energy by developing regulations that will safeguard wildlife and reward responsible wind energy development.

The government estimates that a minimum of 440,000 birds are currently killed each year by collisions with wind turbines. In the absence of clear, legally enforceable regulations, the massive expansion of wind power in the United States will likely result in the deaths of more than one million birds each year by 2020. Further, wind energy projects are also expected to adversely impact almost 20,000 square miles of terrestrial habitat, and another 4,000 square miles of marine habitat.

Read the full story here. You can also find the petition online here.