Large coalition joins lawsuit against Trump administration over illegal postponement of methane waste rule

Jul 10, 2017 | News Release, Reducing Methane Pollution on Public Lands: BLM/EPA Waste Rules

BLM rule delay defies Congress, harms taxpayers, public health, and environment The Trump administration has decided to indefinitely postpone a rule that requires oil and gas companies to minimize waste and fix leaks from oil and gas development on public land—a...

Fight begins to maintain protections for Yellowstone grizzly bears

Jun 30, 2017 | News Release, Protecting Grizzly Bears

Conservationists Signal Impending Legal Challenge Over Removal of Federal Safeguards Today, WildEarth Guardians notified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service it will sue the agency over its flawed decision to strip grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem of...

Groups Challenge Plan Increasing Off-Highway Vehicle Use in Old-Growth Areas of Ochoco National Forest

Jun 28, 2017 | News Release, Protecting Oregon’s Ochoco National Forest From OHVs

Extensive new motorized trail system threatens wildlife, upsets use balance Today the U.S. Forest Service issued a final decision green-lighting an extensive motorized trail system that would add 137 miles of new off-highway vehicle (OHV) trails to the existing...

Conservationists Condemn Premature Stripping of Protections for Yellowstone’s Grizzlies

Jun 22, 2017 | News Release, Protecting Grizzly Bears

Planned Trophy Hunts Would Fundamentally Undermine Grizzly Recovery Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it is finalizing its flawed proposal to strip grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem of Endangered Species Act protections despite...

WELC Statement: Interior to Rewrite or Rescind BLM Methane Rule

Jun 21, 2017 | News Release, Reducing Methane Pollution on Public Lands: BLM/EPA Waste Rules

Sec. Zinke provides conflicting information to court, Congress Yesterday, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke told the Senate Energy Committee the Trump administration will rewrite or rescind the Bureau of Land Management methane waste rule. The methane rule, which...

House Logging Bill (HR 2936) Guts Federal Environmental Laws, Literally Privatizes Public Lands, Creates Logging Free-for-All

Jun 21, 2017 | News Release

Tomorrow, the U.S. House of Representatives begins its consideration of HR 2936, known as the Westerman Bill after its author, Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR). The bill contains a cornucopia of loopholes, exemptions and categorical exclusions for environmental, judicial,...

Conservation Groups File Series of Lawsuits to Enforce Transparency Under Trump

Jun 14, 2017 | News Release

Federal Government Stonewalling Efforts to Obtain Public Information on Wildlife, Environment In a series of legal actions filed today and yesterday, WildEarth Guardians and the Western Environmental Law Center stepped up their efforts to compel the Trump...

Interior bows to oil and gas industry, allows continued methane waste

Jun 14, 2017 | News Release, Reducing Methane Pollution on Public Lands: BLM/EPA Waste Rules

BLM rule delay defies Congress’ will, harms taxpayers, public health, environment Today, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced plans to indefinitely delay implementation of key parts of the BLM methane waste rule beyond the original compliance date of...

Groups challenge expansion of largest coal mine in Montana

Jun 8, 2017 | News Release

Today, a coalition of conservation and clean energy advocates challenged a decision by the U.S. Department of the Interior to allow Cloud Peak Energy to strip mine nearly 100 million tons of publicly owned coal from 1,000 acres of public lands without ever conducting...

Protecting Spokane River summertime flows goes to court

Jun 7, 2017 | News Release, Protecting Healthy Flows in the Spokane River

Contacts: Andrew Hawley, Western Environmental Law Center, (206) 487-7250, hawley@westernlaw.org Dan Von Seggern, Center for Environmental Law & Policy, (206)...