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No. 436, November 28, 2008

Court Nixes Arctic Oil-drilling Plan

Suit Prompts State to Protect Wildlife From Fish-stocking

Smalltooth Sawfish to Gain Protected Habitat

New Power-line Proposal Would Ruin Habitat and Warm Planet

Mexican Garter Snake's Protection Put on Hold

Northern Spotted Owl, Old Growth Defended in Suit Intervention

Trouble for Paradise: Lawsuit Challenges Coal-fired Power Plant

Gremlin-like Creature Pops Up in Indonesia

Bush Pardons Eagle-killer, We Tick Off Days Till He's Gone

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Court Nixes Arctic Oil-drilling Plan

Thanks to a lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity and

allies, last Thursday the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals dealt a big

blow to the Bush administration's authorization of a major new Arctic

offshore oil-drilling program. In a 2-1 decision, the court declared that

the plan for the program, proposed by Shell Offshore Inc., failed to

adequately consider drilling's effect on bowhead whales and other Arctic

wildlife, as well as native villagers. The Minerals Management Agency must

now do a better environmental review of the project -- which will probably

be reconsidered under the next administration.

Observed Center attorney Noblin: " If polar bears and other

ice-dependent species are to survive as the Arctic melts in the face of

global warming, we need to protect their critical habitat, not turn it into

an industrial zone. "

Get more from the Los Angeles Times.

Suit Prompts State to Protect Wildlife From Fish-stocking

Things have been looking up for California's native fish and amphibians

since last Thursday, when the Center for Biological Diversity and Pacific

Rivers Council secured an agreement from the state to take steps to protect

native species from fish-stocking. After a string of daily conferences, the

California Department of Fish and Game agreed to stop stocking

hatchery-raised fish in many lakes and streams where 16 native fish and nine

native frogs are at risk from associated predation, competition, disease,

and invasive species.

In May 2007, the court ruled that fish stocking has " significant

environmental impacts " on aquatic ecosystems, ordering the Department to do

a report on the environmental impacts of its stocking program by the end of

2008. But the agency has been slow to wrap up its report, and in the

meantime, native fish and frogs have suffered. The new agreement will help

species like the mountain yellow-legged frog and Santa Ana sucker move

toward recovery.

Read more in the Sacramento Bee.

Smalltooth Sawfish to Gain Protected Habitat

Thanks to a Center for Biological Diversity lawsuit, late last week the U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to protect habitat for one of Florida's

most intriguing species, the rare smalltooth sawfish. Listed as endangered

in 2003, the smalltooth sawfish is a relative of the shark and has a

distinctive serrated snout that looks just like a saw. Unfortunately, the

species' population in U.S. waters off Florida and around the Gulf of Mexico

has declined by an astonishing 95 percent. The cause? Loss of habitat due to

human activities like development, dredge-and-fill operations, boating,

erosion, and pollution. Still, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to

acknowledge that the fish needs federally protected habitat until the Center

sued to gain habitat protections for the sawfish and several other marine

species.

Read more in the Fort Myers News-Press.

New Power-line Proposal Would Ruin Habitat and Warm Planet

Just after the California Public Utilities Commission took two steps in the

right direction regarding the Sunrise Powerlink transmission line, the

Commission's president proposed a decision that could ruin everything. Late

last month, the Commission issued two decisions with some merit: one denying

construction of the power line through some of Southern California's last

wildlands, and one requiring San Diego Gas & Electric, the company behind

the project, to agree to a plan that would ensure it made good on its

promises for renewable energy.

The latest proposed decision, obviously made under pressure from San Diego

Gas & Electric, would let Sunrise Powerlink go forward without any

restrictions whatsoever, not only allowing the project to ruin wildlife

habitat and pose a substantial fire risk -- but also letting the line be

used to transmit fossil fuel-generated electricity (completely contradicting

Governor Schwarzenegger's reason for supporting the project).

Read more in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Mexican Garter Snake's Protection Put on Hold

After a petition and two lawsuits by the Center for Biological Diversity,

the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Monday that the Mexican garter

snake indeed deserves federal protection -- but the agency still failed to

grant it. Claiming that the snake's inclusion on the endangered species list

is precluded by other actions to list species, the Service is continuing

more than 20 years of delay in protection for the critically imperiled

snake, which began back in 1985 when it was first deemed a " candidate " for

protection.

The Mexican garter snake, a highly imperiled indicator species for Southwest

streamside ecosystems, is just one of 282 species still waiting for needed

Endangered Species Act protection.

Learn more from International Animal Rescue UK.

Northern Spotted Owl, Old Growth Defended in Suit Intervention

A few months after the Bush administration wrongfully slashed protected

habitat for the northern spotted owl, this week the Center for Biological

Diversity and 17 allies filed to intervene in a timber-industry lawsuit

aimed at weakening owl protections even more. Last August, the

administration declared it would reduce the area of federally protected

habitat for the northern spotted owl by about 1.6 million acres -- despite

scientists' warnings that spotted owl populations have been steadily

dwindling by 4 percent a year for the past 15 years. The decision, deviously

justified based on a scientifically discredited plan to recover owls --

which we're also challenging -- is just one outcome of this administration's

ongoing trend of political interference in endangered species science.

The Center and allies are pressing for a more sensible approach to managing

the northern spotted owl's Northwest forest habitat -- not more logging of

mature and old-growth trees.

Get details in the Oregonian.

Trouble for Paradise: Lawsuit Challenges Coal-fired Power Plant

Since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency still hadn't ruled on our

petition challenging a permit for one of the most polluting coal-fired power

plants in the nation, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club,

and two Kentucky residents filed suit last Thursday. The Tennessee Valley

Authority's Paradise power plant in Kentucky, " TVA Paradise, " burns more

than 7 million tons of coal and emits thousands of tons of air pollutants

each year -- pollutants the Environmental Protection Agency has deemed

hazardous to human health and the environment. The plant also heavily

contributes to greenhouse gas pollution: Last year, it spewed out more than

14 million tons of carbon dioxide.

It's not surprising that plant's operating permit, approved in 2007 by a

state agency, fails to comply with pollutant-regulating requirements

mandated by the Clean Air Act -- but the Environmental Protection Agency

apparently had no objections. Our petition and suit seek to overturn the

permit so the ill-named plant is forced to get its act together.

Get more dirt on the plant in our press release.

Gremlin-like Creature Pops Up in Indonesia

The pygmy tarsier, a tiny, arguably adorable primate native to Indonesia's

misty mountaintops, was long thought by many to exist no more -- not a

single living specimen had been found for 78 years. Last Tuesday, though,

scientists announced that three of the mouse-sized mammals were recently

discovered on Mount Rorekatimbo in Central Sulawesi.

Of special interest to the media has been the pygmy tarsier's uncanny

resemblance to both the Furby -- a furry, talking electronic toy -- and

what's referred to in the cult classic Gremlins as a " mogwai " -- a gremlin

before its post-midnight meal. Curious biologists are psyched about the

creature's rediscovery because it's one of the most puzzling primate

species, boasting claws instead of fingernails and seeming to use neither

vocalizations nor scent marking to communicate. (No information has been

released on whether it's safe to feed a pygmy tarsier after midnight.)

Get more from MSNBC.com.

Bush Pardons Eagle-killer, We Tick Off Days Till He's Gone

Exactly fifty-six days before his administration's end, this Monday

President Bush issued pardons to 14 criminals, including O. Connor,

let off the hook for a 1996 conviction for the unauthorized use of a

pesticide in killing endangered bald eagles. It's just one more reason the

Center for Biological Diversity is literally counting down the days

(actually, seconds -- check out our homepage) till the next administration.

Speaking of the Obama administration and endangered species, last Friday

insightful blogger e brought up a good point on his Web site

" Coyote Crossing " : Endangered species weren't much talked about during the

last election, so we really don't know what the next administration will

bring. As e observed in a special shout-out to the Center, we've

adopted a tone of " cautious optimism. "

Read about Bush's pardon in the New York Times and check out e's blog.

Kierán Suckling

Executive Director

Photo credits: Mexican garter snake © Phil Rosen; bowhead whale by Rick

LeDuc, NOAA; mountain yellow-legged frog by Adam Backlin, USGS; smalltooth

sawfish © Diliff, courtesy of Wikipedia; Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

© Corby; northern spotted owl by and Hollingsworth,

USFWS; coal-fired power plant by J. Redman, USGS; pygmy tarsier by

wr, courtesy of Wikipedia; bald eagle by Lee Emery, USFWS.

This message was sent to jbmistletoe@....

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