News & Updates
Conservation groups petition to end Enloe Dam hydropower license
River advocacy groups filed a petition in federal court today against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) challenging its recent decision to extend construction deadlines on the Enloe Hydroelectric Project on the Similkameen River in north-central...
BLM defers fracking around New Mexico’s sacred Chaco Canyon
Taos, NM – Late yesterday, the Bureau of Land Management announced its decision to defer an oil and gas lease sale of 4,434.37 acres near Chaco Culture National Historical Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, for consultation with Tribal and local leaders. The surprise...
BLM’s methane waste rule back in force following court decision
Late last night, a U.S. District Court granted a preliminary injunction striking down Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's attempt to delay for one year implementation of the Bureau of Land Management's methane waste rule. A coalition of government watchdog groups filed a...
Administration moves to trample taxpayers, public health, and climate via methane waste rule rollback
Late yesterday, the Bureau of Land Management issued a proposed rule rolling back core public safeguards to reduce methane waste on public lands by the oil and gas industry. The proposed revision capitulates to the worst oil and gas industry operators, undoing all...
ExxonMobil publicly acknowledges need for oil and gas methane regulations
Today, ExxonMobil natural gas subsidiary XTO publicly acknowledged the need for government regulation of oil and gas methane emissions. The announcement recognizes that voluntary measures alone are not enough to control this dangerous climate pollutant. Earlier last...
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...
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