Press Releases
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May 31, 2011
Conservation groups formally notified the National Marine Fisheries Service today of their intent to sue the agency and three Gulf of Mexico states for failing to protect endangered sea turtles from entanglement and drowning in shrimp trawls.
May 26, 2011
WASHINGTON (May 26, 2011) – The U.S. Department of the Interior unveiled a preliminary set of proposals today to improve implementation of the Endangered Species Act. The proposals were outlined in response to an Executive Order (E.O. 13563) issued by President Obama in January that calls for federal agencies to review existing regulations “to determine whether any such regulations should be modified, streamlined, expanded, or repealed so as to make the agency’s regulatory program more effective or less burdensome in achieving the regulatory objectives.”
May 25, 2011
WASHINGTON (May 25, 2011) – Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) jointly introduced legislation today to gut the Equal Access to Justice Act. The bill, dubbed the Government Litigation Savings Act, would make it harder for private citizens, small businesses and nonprofit organizations to file suit against the federal government by limiting their rights to recoup attorney’s fees after winning a lawsuit in which the government’s position was not substantially justified.
May 23, 2011
Scientists today released a report announcing that a decrease of at least 5,000 red knots was observed at key wintering grounds in Tierra del Fuego, Chile from the previous year. Scientists reported population counts of wintering knots in other locations declined as well. The estimated current total population for the migratory shorebird is now unlikely to be more than 25,000.
May 18, 2011
The Senate today struck down a bill proposed by Senator McConnell (S. 953) in a decisive vote of 57-42.
May 16, 2011
Hundreds of scientists, 67 members of Congress, more than a dozen national conservation organizations and nearly 300,000 citizens are calling on the Obama administration today to strengthen protections for wildlife and water in its proposed forest policy.
May 13, 2011
Don Barry will join Defenders of Wildlife this June as its new executive vice president. This is part of an ongoing leadership transition following President Rodger Schlickeisen’s announcement of plans to retire after 20 years on October 1, 2011 -- handing over the reins to Defenders’ current executive vice president, Jamie Rappaport Clark.
May 13, 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 13, 2011) – Legislation (H.R. 1819) was introduced on May 10 by Rep. Candice Miller (R-MI) that would amend the Endangered Species Act to eliminate protections for gray wolves in portions of the Northern Rockies that were not included as part of the final delisting rule published last week and eliminate the public review process for the proposed delisting of wolves in the western Great Lakes. In addition, the proposed legislation would remove federal protections for wolves in New Mexico and Arizona once the wolf population hits an arbitrary number without addressing persistent threats to their survival.
May 12, 2011
The U.S. House of Representatives today passed the third bill in a series of three fast-track drilling pieces that favors Big Oil profits over safety of coastal communities and environments.
May 12, 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 12, 2011) – Rep. Devin Nunes introduced a bill yesterday that would eliminate vital protections for California’s Bay Delta.