Press Releases
Use the dropdown boxes below to find press releases related to specific animals, conservation issues, and regions.
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June 29, 2011
BOZEMAN, Mont.— The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined today that fishers in Montana and Idaho do not warrant federal protection under the Endangered Species Act.
June 24, 2011
SALEM, Ore. (June 24, 2011) – The Oregon Senate unanimously approved a bill today that will establish an innovative livestock compensation and wolf coexistence program in Oregon to help ranchers protect livestock, aid wildlife managers in conserving wolves, and reimburse ranchersfor livestock losses to wolves. The program is the result of a collaborative effort, including valuable contributions from the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, Wallowa County ranchers, the Oregon Farm Bureau, the Governor’s office, Hells Canyon Preservation Council and Defenders of Wildlife.
June 21, 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 21, 2011) – The U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee approved H.R. 872 today, a bill that will exempt pesticide users who spray over waterways from the Clean Water Act. If passed, the legislation would reverse a 2009 federal court decision requiring pesticide users to obtain a permit from the Environmental Protection Agency in order to discharge pesticides directly into waterways.
June 16, 2011
The U.S. House of Representatives today passed an amendment to the fiscal 2012 agriculture spending bill that would prohibit the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from implementing its new departmental regulation on climate change adaptation.
June 9, 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 9, 2011) – Twenty-nine organizations, including both national and local environmental groups and scientific associations, have sent a letter asking the U.S. Senate to oppose amendments to the Economic Development Administration reauthorization bill that would exempt certain imperiled species from the Endangered Species Act. The letter is in reaction to the introduction of two amendments this week, one from Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and one from Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), that would set a dangerous and sweeping precedent by amending the Endangered Species Act to block protections for the sand dune lizard and lesser prairie chicken, respectively.
June 9, 2011
The federal government illegally authorized new deepwater drilling by claiming that risky operations will cause no significant harm to the environment despite last year’s BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, said four environmental groups in a court filing today. The coalition challenged government approval of Shell’s plan to conduct new deepwater exploratory drilling off Alabama’s coast in waters 2000 feet deeper than the BP Deepwater Horizon even though regulators acknowledge that the operations may result in an oil spill ten times bigger than last year’s disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
June 8, 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 8, 2011) – Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) offered an amendment yesterday to the Economic Development Administration reauthorization bill that would prevent a single species, the imperiled sand dune lizard, from being protected under the Endangered Species Act.
June 2, 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 2, 2011) – Yesterday marked the passing of the 90-day deadline for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to make its initial response to a petition seeking protection for African lions under the Endangered Species Act. The petition was filed on March 1 by a coalition of wildlife groups including Born Free USA/ Born Free Foundation, Defenders of Wildlife and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
June 1, 2011
A coalition of environmental groups working on renewable energy development told a congressional committee today that the unprecedented expansion of wind, solar and geothermal generation over the past two years represented real progress toward a clean energy future and was the result of coordination between their groups, renewable energy companies and federal agencies.
May 31, 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 31, 2011) – The U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition today to reconsider the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ban on domestic food tolerances for carbofuran, a deadly pesticide used in food production. FMC Corporation, the leading manufacturer of carbofuran, and a group of powerful agribusiness lobbyists including the National Corn Growers Association, have repeatedly challenged a 2009 rule from the Environmental Protection Agency to revoke all food tolerances. EPA has shown that dietary exposure to carbofuran is unsafe for humans. In 2006, EPA announced that all uses of carbofuran should be cancelled because of occupational and ecological risks to humans and wildlife.