News & Updates
Wolf advocates sue: ‘Recovery plan’ sets Mexican wolves on road to extinction
Tucson, AZ —Today Southwestern wolf advocates challenged the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in court over its 2017 Mexican wolf recovery plan, which violates the Endangered Species Act, excludes the best available science, and imposes an arbitrary population cap...
BLM stay of methane waste rule halts measures that would have taken effect this week
Today marks the date when oil and gas companies operating on federal lands would have had to begin taking specific steps to reduce methane waste under an Obama-era rule adopted by the Bureau of Land Management in late 2016. However, the new administration late last...
Fish and Wildlife Service alters Canada lynx assessment to support delisting
Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced its intent to begin the process to remove Endangered Species Act protections for imperiled Canada lynx in the contiguous U.S. This move by one of the most anti-wildlife, anti-science, climate-denying administrations...
Legal action prompts Wildlife Services to stop killing Oregon beavers
In response to the threat of litigation by two environmental groups, a federal wildlife-killing program has agreed in a letter to stop killing beavers, river otter, muskrat and mink in Oregon. Wildlife Services, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, also agreed...
Proposed Martinez administration oil and gas air quality standards some of the weakest in the nation
State will likely allow increased oil and gas pollution despite known effects on public health, climate, environment. On Jan. 5, a large group of New Mexico citizen groups submitted comments to the New Mexico Environment Department on its revised draft general...
Executive Director’s 2017 Year-End Letter
Just over one year ago, we made a commitment to you: to wield the power of the law to vigorously defend the American West's public lands, wildlife, and communities. We’re proud to report to you that we’ve made great progress. Leveraging the essential right of American...
Groups challenge new rule nullifying compliance obligations under BLM methane rule
After defeats in court and in Congress, the Trump administration is now attempting to suspend for one year almost all of the requirements of its Methane Waste Prevention Rule that would reduce waste of publicly owned natural gas by oil and gas companies. Today,...
Methane rule suspended for one year: Trump administration shifts waste costs to taxpayers
Tomorrow, the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management will finalize a one-year suspension of a regulation adopted just a year ago to reduce methane waste on public lands. This is the latest in a series of attempts by the Trump administration and...
Groups send notice of intent to sue over active pollution of Montana ground, surface water from shuttered Troy Mine
HELENA – Today on behalf of the Montana Environmental Information Center, the Western Environmental Law Center sent a notice of intent to sue Hecla Mining Company over continuing water pollution from the Troy Mine in northwestern Montana. The copper and silver mine,...
Groups appeal district court’s dismissal of case on Four Corners Power Plant and Navajo Mine
PHOENIX – Navajo, regional and national conservation groups today filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to continue their challenge of a 25-year extension of coal operations at Four Corners Power Plant and Navajo Mine. They appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court...
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