Sunday, February 17, 2013

They Make The Mountains Taller

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From: "Earthjustice e.Brief" <enews@earthjustice.org>
Date: Feb 17, 2013 5:56 AM
Subject: They Make The Mountains Taller
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Earthjustice's monthly e-newsletter. Victory For Wolverines. State Of The Planet Needs Action. Tweet this issue of e.Brief. Share this issue of e.Brief!  Forward to a friend 
e.Brief:Earthjustice's monthly e-newsletter. They Make The Mountains Taller.
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There are fewer than 300 wolverines remaining in the continental United States. (iStock / AY Images)

Northern Rockies

Victory For Wolverines

Covered with fur and filled with fury, the wolverine can fight off grizzlies, but not the hand of man. No more than 300 wolverines survive in the continental U.S. This month, after 12 years and three court challenges by Earthjustice, the Fish and Wildlife Service finally agreed to propose listing the animal under the Endangered Species Act.

   Continue Reading »   

They make the mountains taller. They make the whole place more alive, and we can't lose animals like that just because we're not paying attention.

– Wolverine expert Doug Chadwick

Keeping the Wolverine Wild
Despite their ferocity, climate change and trapping threaten the wolverine. Hear their story.

Save endangered species! Support our work in court to save wolverines and other endangered species using the most powerful tool available--the law. Donate Now!
Climate change threatens to increase the strength and frequency of storms.

Trip's Column

State Of Planet Needs Action

The promises of President Obama won't stop climate change. Amid rising seas, worsening drought and public demand, the president must act, says Earthjustice President Trip Van Noppen.

    Continue Reading »   

Listen to Trip's Teleconference:
How Earthjustice Tackles Climate Change

Take Action: Tell President Obama You Support Climate Action, Now

  In The News

The Four Corners coal-fired power plant in New Mexico. (Ecoflight)

Western U.S.

Coal-Plant Exemptions Challenged in Court

Eight of the oldest and dirtiest coal plants in the nation are in Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico, within polluting distance of Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, and other magnificent landscapes. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has decided to allow these plants to escape the Clean Air Act's stringent requirements to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide, a pollutant that causes haze. Earthjustice has filed a lawsuit on behalf of clean air advocates to challenge EPA's action, which contradicts the Clean Air Act's decades-old goal of restoring visibility to national parks and wilderness areas.

   Continue Reading »   

Wolf Creek at the New River Gorge, WV. (Gary Hartley / NPS)

Appalachia

Rectifying A Broken Promise

At the tail end of the Bush administration, the government repealed a rule that was aimed at protecting Appalachian streams from the ravages of mountaintop removal coal mining. The Obama administration confessed that the repeal was a mistake and promised to adopt a new rule to protect streams by 2012. But no action has been taken, so in January a broad coalition of organizations filed suit to challenge the Interior Department's failure to protect Appalachian streams.

   Continue Reading »   

Lake Tahoe at sunset. (iStock / Eric Foltz)

California

New Plan Threatens Tahoe

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, charged with protecting the lake, recently updated its management plan, and the news is not good. The new plan would allow taller buildings, more pavement, and in general encourage more of the sort of development and crowding that have already seriously damaged the lake. Earthjustice has taken the agency to court to challenge this bad plan.

   Continue Reading »   

Mt. Gunnison in the Sunset Roadless Area. (Ted Zukoski)

Colorado

Arch Coal Eyes CO Roadless

Coal plants are closing and proposals for new plants are being rejected, but coal companies still seek to mine in ever more sensitive places. One such is the Sunset Roadless Area on the Gunnison National Forest in Colorado, adjacent to the West Elk Wilderness. There, Arch Coal has been given permission by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to bulldoze 6.5 miles of new roads and clear sites for 48 new well pads. Were this anywhere but Colorado (or Idaho), the area might be protected by the federal Roadless Area Conservation Rule, but Colorado has its own rule, which has a loophole big enough to drive a coal truck through. Earthjustice has filed an Endangered Species Act challenge and may add other claims.

   Continue Reading »   

Great egret in Everglades National Park. (Rodney Cammauf / NPS)

Florida

Attacking 'Glades Pollution

Earthjustice has filed a legal challenge on behalf of the Florida Wildlife Federation to block Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet from allowing Big Sugar and corporate vegetable plantations to continue farming state-owned land in the Everglades for another 30 years. The farming causes severe pollution in the very areas where taxpayers are footing the bill for a multi-billion-dollar Everglade environmental restoration project.

   Continue Reading »   

A rally protests fracking. (Chesapeake Climate Action Network)

Wyoming

Fracking Favor Must End

The state of Wyoming has rules on the books—as do several other states—that require companies engaged in fracking—hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas—to disclose what chemicals are used in the process, chemicals that may be extremely dangerous. So far, so good, but Wyoming has routinely issued exemptions when companies argue that they be allowed to keep the identity of the chemicals secret. Earthjustice in January went to state court in Wyoming to seek enforcement of the rules as written and intended.

   Continue Reading »   

Managing Attorney Tim Preso comments on the lawsuit in the January 25 episode of the environmental news podcast, EJ90.

  In The Win Column

A farmworker sprays pesticides on a field. (Shutterstock)

Nationwide

EPA Limits Pesticide Experimentation on People

Earthjustice challenged a Bush administration rule that allowed pesticides to be tested on people in order to justify weakening public health protections. A settlement was reached, and recently EPA finalized a new rule that will severely curtail the extremely unscientific and unethical aspects of the old rule. As a result it will be harder for the chemical industry to use people as test subjects in pesticide research sent to the EPA.

   Continue Reading »   

Solar panels on a Hawaiian rooftop.

Hawaiʻi

Solar Breakthrough in Hawaiʻi

Earthjustice and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council recently reached a path-breaking agreement with the Hawaiian Electric Company that will spur the expansion of rooftop solar energy installations. Utilities have traditionally resisted such expansion, arguing that local power lines can't accommodate it. But as more and more customers go green, utilities must evolve for the future. The new plan should encourage rapid deployment of localized green energy like rooftop solar panels, and prove an example for the rest of the country.

   Continue Reading »   

  unEARTHED

David Guest.

David Guest

Managing Attorney, Florida

Slime threatens Florida's magic waterways.

    Read Blog Post »   

Ted Zukoski.

The Zuke

Attorney, Rocky Mountain

Where's the war on coal and climate change?

    Read Blog Post »   

  Action Center

Young salmon emerge from the gravel to feed. (E. Peter Steenstra / USFWS)

Keep Frankenfish Out Of Our Food Chain

The FDA has taken a controversial step toward approving the first-ever genetically-engineered animal made for human consumption. These fish are engineered in foreign laboratories to grow twice as fast as natural Atlantic salmon. And if that's not scary enough, the FDA isn't planning on thoroughly studying all the environmental risks presented by these Frankenfish before giving the green light.

    Take Action Today! »   

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Photo Credits:
  · Victory For Wolverines:  Fewer than 300 wolverines remain in the continental United States. (iStock / AY Images)
  · Coal-Plant Exemptions Challenged in Court:  The Four Corners coal-fired power plant in New Mexico. (Ecoflight)
  · Rectifying A Broken Promise:  Wolf Creek at the New River Gorge, WV. (Gary Hartley / NPS)
  · New Plan Threatens Tahoe:  Lake Tahoe at sunset. (iStock / Eric Foltz)
  · Arch Coal Eyes CO Roadless:  Mt. Gunnison in the Sunset Roadless Area. (Ted Zukoski)
  · Attacking 'Glades Pollution:  Great egret in Everglades National Park. (Rodney Cammauf / NPS)
  · Fracking Favor Must End:  A rally protests fracking. (Chesapeake Climate Action Network)
  · EPA Limits Pesticide Experimentation on People:  A farmworker sprays pesticides on a field. (Shutterstock)
  · Keep Frankenfish Out Of Our Food Chain:  Young salmon emerge from the gravel to feed. (E. Peter Steenstra / USFWS)

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