On this day in 2010, the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, killing 11 men and spewing 130 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. After leaking for 87 days, oil ultimately seeped onto shorelines and marshes, mostly in Louisiana. Eight years later, with the legal settlement completed and settlement funds from BP and other companies flowing to the affected states, it’s worth reflecting on restoration progress, regulatory rollbacks that could impact wildlife in these areas, and how penalty money ...

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The post 8 Important Updates, 8 Years After the Gulf Oil Disaster appeared first on Restore the Mississippi River Delta.

On this day in 2010, the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, killing 11 men and spewing 130 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. After leaking for 87 days, oil ultimately seeped onto shorelines and marshes, mostly in Louisiana. Eight years later, with the legal settlement completed and settlement funds from BP and other companies flowing to the affected states, it’s worth reflecting on restoration progress, regulatory rollbacks that could impact wildlife in these areas, and how penalty money ...

Read The Full Story

The post 8 Important Updates, 8 Years After the Gulf Oil Disaster appeared first on Restore the Mississippi River Delta.

Written by Molly Rauch

How does your city stack up when it comes to air pollution? The American Lung Association helps sort it out in their new report: State of the Air 2018. The results are troubling. More than 40% of Americans live in counties where the air is...

With upcoming annual meetings full of shareholder resolutions calling on companies to set greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets, EDF released "Taking Aim", a new paper explaining why methane targets are the next frontier for the oil and gas industry and establishing five keys for strong targets. The paper explains how companies that set targets are […]

With upcoming annual meetings full of shareholder resolutions calling on companies to set greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets, EDF released "Taking Aim", a new paper explaining why methane targets are the next frontier for the oil and gas industry and establishing five keys for strong targets. The paper explains how companies that set targets are […]

With upcoming annual meetings full of shareholder resolutions calling on companies to set greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets, EDF released "Taking Aim", a new paper explaining why methane targets are the next frontier for the oil and gas industry and establishing five keys for strong targets. The paper explains how companies that set targets are […]

It came as welcome news when state and federal regulators agreed to shave nearly two years off the five-year permitting process for the Mid-Barataria sediment diversion project in Louisiana that will allow the mighty Mississippi River to build much-needed land.

Zinke’s latest change to the Endangered Species Act is more trouble than you think

A critical provision of the Endangered Species Act is now under fire, showing that the U.S. Department of the Interior is no more immune to reckless ideas than other federal agencies have been as of late.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has asked the White House Office of Management and Budget to remove a long-standing regulation that provides default protection to threatened species.

Removing the so-called “blanket 4(d) rule” would immediately place more demands on the funding and staff of the already-strapped FWS. It would also make it more difficult to reverse species population declines – landing more animals and plants on the endangered species list – and fly in the face of years-long collaborative conservation efforts that prevented such listings.

This latest move comes on the heels of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s controversial decision to reopen federal plans for protecting an imperiled bird, the greater sage-grouse, and to pave way for oil and gas development in sensitive Western habitats.

All are short-sighted and ultimately counter-productive policy changes designed to benefit a relatively small, but powerful, group of industry lobbyists.

Already-swamped agency couldn’t meet new demands

If the blanket rule were eliminated, FWS staff would instead have to determine whether and what protections are “necessary and advisable” for each and every species listed as threatened.

Such changes come at a bad time for an understaffed agency operating on a tight budget. A species-by-species approach requires analysis of the best available science impacts to habitat and imperiled species, work that takes time and resources that simply don’t exist today. The funding level proposed by the Trump administration for 2019 would make things even worse.

The proposal to remove the blanket protection for imperiled species is perplexing, too, considering that it has built-in flexibilities for ranchers, farmers, loggers and other land users whose activities can be exempted from the rule – and often are.

To date, FWS has created special 4(d) rules for about one-quarter of species listed as threatened, including the Utah prairie dog.

Uncertainty and litigation that nobody needs

Under the blanket rule, species automatically earn protection from habitat changes that kill, injure or harm them – an essential and practical provision with built-in flexibility that saves agency resources, provides certainty for landowners, and keeps species off the endangered species list.

If special rules must be devised for each threatened species, listing protections will lack national consistency and landowners will have little clarity on how they affect private property.

That would trigger protracted litigation over what is “necessary and advisable” protection, while stripping the Endangered Species Act from a much-needed relief valve in favor of a patchwork of restrictions that really don’t work for anyone.

I’ve worked closely with energy and agricultural stakeholders over the last decade to find wildlife solutions that work within the ESA and provide certainty for industries looking to develop land responsibly.

What FWS is putting forward here is not such a solution.

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Friday digests from our staff keep you up to date on the week’s events.

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krives April 19, 2018 - 03:43

Zinke’s latest change to the Endangered Species Act is more trouble than you think

A critical provision of the Endangered Species Act is now under fire, showing that the U.S. Department of the Interior is no more immune to reckless ideas than other federal agencies have been as of late.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has asked the White House Office of Management and Budget to remove a long-standing regulation that provides default protection to threatened species.

Removing the so-called “blanket 4(d) rule” would immediately place more demands on the funding and staff of the already-strapped FWS. It would also make it more difficult to reverse species population declines – landing more animals and plants on the endangered species list – and fly in the face of years-long collaborative conservation efforts that prevented such listings.

This latest move comes on the heels of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s controversial decision to reopen federal plans for protecting an imperiled bird, the greater sage-grouse, and to pave way for oil and gas development in sensitive Western habitats.

All are short-sighted and ultimately counter-productive policy changes designed to benefit a relatively small, but powerful, group of industry lobbyists.

Already-swamped agency couldn’t meet new demands

If the blanket rule were eliminated, FWS staff would instead have to determine whether and what protections are “necessary and advisable” for each and every species listed as threatened.

Such changes come at a bad time for an understaffed agency operating on a tight budget. A species-by-species approach requires analysis of the best available science impacts to habitat and imperiled species, work that takes time and resources that simply don’t exist today. The funding level proposed by the Trump administration for 2019 would make things even worse.

The proposal to remove the blanket protection for imperiled species is perplexing, too, considering that it has built-in flexibilities for ranchers, farmers, loggers and other land users whose activities can be exempted from the rule – and often are.

To date, FWS has created special 4(d) rules for about one-quarter of species listed as threatened, including the Utah prairie dog.

Uncertainty and litigation that nobody needs

Under the blanket rule, species automatically earn protection from habitat changes that kill, injure or harm them – an essential and practical provision with built-in flexibility that saves agency resources, provides certainty for landowners, and keeps species off the endangered species list.

If special rules must be devised for each threatened species, listing protections will lack national consistency and landowners will have little clarity on how they affect private property.

That would trigger protracted litigation over what is “necessary and advisable” protection, while stripping the Endangered Species Act from a much-needed relief valve in favor of a patchwork of restrictions that really don’t work for anyone.

I’ve worked closely with energy and agricultural stakeholders over the last decade to find wildlife solutions that work within the ESA and provide certainty for industries looking to develop land responsibly.

What FWS is putting forward here is not such a solution.

Get policy and political updates

Friday digests from our staff keep you up to date on the week’s events.

Thanks for subscribing to In case you missed it

krives April 19, 2018 - 03:43

Jennifer McPartland, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.  Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Lead Senior Scientist. Last night EDF submitted a request to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to extend the public comment period on its draft Alternative Testing Methods Strategic Plan under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). EPA held a public meeting about the draft Strategic Plan […]

Jennifer McPartland, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.  Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Lead Senior Scientist. Last night EDF submitted a request to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to extend the public comment period on its draft Alternative Testing Methods Strategic Plan under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). EPA held a public meeting about the draft Strategic Plan […]

Jennifer McPartland, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.  Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Lead Senior Scientist. Last night EDF submitted a request to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to extend the public comment period on its draft Alternative Testing Methods Strategic Plan under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). EPA held a public meeting about the draft Strategic Plan […]

At Environmental Defense Fund, we believe that environmental progress and economic growth can and must go hand in hand. EDF+Business works with leading companies and investors to raise the bar for corporate sustainability leadership by setting aggressive, science-based goals; collaborating for scale across industries and global supply chains; publicly supporting smart environmental safeguards; and, accelerating environmental innovation. This is […]

Written by Dominique Browning

Babies are at the heart of history. Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth this month became the first U.S. Senator to have a baby while holding office. As if that weren’t labor enough, she then pushed through a rule change that allows babies onto the Senate floor...

Pruitt Must Testify Under Oath