News & Updates

Ecology’s CAFO Water Quality Permit Sacrifices Public Health, Drinking Water, Shellfish Beds

Jan 19, 2017

Location: Seattle Today, a coalition environmental, public health, social justice and public interest advocates and organizations representing tens of thousands of Washingtonians responded to the Washington State Department of Ecology’s issuance of a revised...

Health, Environmental, and Tribal Groups Applaud Order Denying Industry Efforts to Halt BLM Methane Waste Rule Implementation

Jan 17, 2017

Rule Would Reduce Egregious Methane Waste, Benefit Taxpayers, Communities, Public Health Casper, Wyo. Sixteen national, regional, tribal and local public health and environmental groups representing millions of Americans applaud a decision issued yesterday by Wyoming...

Advocacy in action: Decades-long effort earns 20-year mining ban in Kalmiopsis Wild Rivers

Jan 13, 2017

Administration acts to protect steelhead, wild salmon for decades Location: Portland, Ore. This week, the Obama Administration took strong administrative action to protect an area in southwest Oregon's Rogue-Siskiyou National Forest with the highest concentration of...

Indigenous Leaders Rally in Santa Fe to Stop Chaco Oil and Gas Sale

Jan 11, 2017

Navajo Chapter Presidents, Tribal members, and New Mexico Water Protectors call on BLM State Office to Cancel January Auction Location: Santa Fe, NM On January 25, 2017, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is scheduled to hold an online auction of 843 acres of public...

Court tosses suit challenging Santa Fe National Forest travel management plan

Jan 4, 2017

400,000 acres of SFNF will remain protected from ATVs Location: Santa Fe Late last month, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico dismissed a case against the Santa Fe National Forest brought by an off-road vehicle advocacy organization. The case...

Judge allows youth constitutional climate rights case to move forward against state of WA and Gov. Inslee

Dec 20, 2016

Location: Seattle Judge Hollis Hill ruled Monday that the youths who sued the Department of Ecology for failing to take action on climate change can again move forward, now with a constitutional climate rights claim that adds the state of Washington and Gov. Jay...

Washington state lists Canada lynx as endangered Rare Cats

Dec 14, 2016

Location: Seattle Late last week, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission voted unanimously to list Canada lynx as “endangered” under the state equivalent of the Endangered Species Act. This move comes as estimates for the state population of lynx fall to an...

WELC statement on Trump swapping climate denier for climate denier in Interior nom

Dec 14, 2016

Location: Taos The incoming administration has reportedly “pivoted” from nominating Washington state Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers to lead the U.S. Department of Interior to Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke, who believes climate change is “not a settled science." Rep. Zinke’s...

WA industrial dairy installs court-ordered manure lagoon liners to protect groundwater

Dec 12, 2016

Department of Ecology poised to allow continued industrial ag pollution throughout state with new permit Location: Seattle Last week, Cow Palace Dairy, a large Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) in Zillah, Wash., began installation of state-of-the-art...

Coalition applauds final denial of Jordan Cove LNG Terminal and Pacific Connector Pipeline

Dec 12, 2016

Location: Medford, Ore. Late Friday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) denied a request from Canadian oil and gas companies for rehearing of the case surrounding the proposed Jordan Cove Liquefied Natural Gas Terminal and Pacific Connector Pipeline,...