Indigenous Leaders Rally in Santa Fe to Stop Chaco Oil and Gas Sale
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
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
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
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
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
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
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,...
WELC statement on nomination of public lands privatization advocate to lead U.S. Department of Interior
Location: Taos The nomination of Cathy McMorris Rodgers to lead the U.S. Department of Interior, tasked with "protecting America's great outdoors and powering our future," affirms the president elect's intent to undermine public lands protections and hand over our...
Coalition Calls on Obama Administration to Protect Greater Chaco, Navajo Communities from Fracking
Groups Appeal to Overturn U.S. Bureau of Land Management Plans to Auction Public, Tribal Lands to the Oil and Gas Industry Location: Santa Fe, NM Citing the dangers and destruction caused by unchecked fracking in the Greater Chaco region of northwest New Mexico, a...
WELC statement on appointment of industry puppet as EPA Administrator
Location: Taos, NM The appointment of Scott Pruitt, a climate denier and fossil fuel industry puppet as EPA Administrator in the next presidential administration effectively hijacks the mission of the agency to serve corporate masters at the expense of public health...