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A Much-Needed Win for Wildlife: Senate Introduces Bill to Improve Endangered Species Act Implementation
Senators Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Pete Rickets (R-NE) today introduced the Improving Species Recovery Act, an important bipartisan bill that would improve implementation of the Endangered Species Act.
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Enough is Enough: Senate Blocks Yet Another Attempt to Prioritize Drilling in the Arctic
The Senate today blocked an attempt to pass S. 5438, introduced by Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK). The bill would have ratified and approved all authorizations, permits, verifications, extensions, biological opinions, incidental take statements and any other approvals or orders issued pursuant to federal law necessary for the establishment and administration of the Coastal Plain oil and gas leasing program, among other purposes.
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Senate Permitting Deal Threatens Bedrock Endangered Species Protections
Defenders of Wildlife today strongly condemned Endangered Species Act provisions reportedly included in a Senate permitting package, warning they would weaken critical protections for imperiled wildlife.
Press Releases
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In a Win for Wildlife, Appropriations Committee Passes Nonlethal Funding
The House Appropriations Committee marked up and passed language out of committee today that would secure critical funding for reducing human-wildlife conflicts in the fiscal year 2021 appropriations package.
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IUCN: North Atlantic Right Whale Now “Critically Endangered”
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announced today that it is changing the status of the North Atlantic right whale from “endangered” to “critically endangered” on its Red List of Threatened Species, recognizing that the species faces an extremely high risk of extinction. The IUCN Red List is the world’s most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of species.
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Trump Administration Abandons Federal Process for Grizzly Restoration in North Cascades
The Trump administration today announced its decision to terminate the public process regarding re-introducing grizzly bears back into the North Cascades Ecosystem of Washington state. This decision was reported by U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary David Bernhardt despite public input and science, denying grizzlies access to their historic range.
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Environmental organizations spotlight inadequate oversight by FAA of SpaceX’s Boca Chica testing facility, call for an EIS
In a letter sent to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), environmental groups are calling on the agency to require a new Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that fully details the impact of the SpaceX Boca Chica testing and launch site.
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Feds Agree to Decide on Endangered Species Protections for Wolverine by August 31
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be required to decide whether wolverines in the lower-48 states should be protected under the Endangered Species Act by Aug. 31, 2020, in accordance with a legal agreement filed in court today with conservation groups.
jcovey@defenders.org
