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Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed new regulations impacting voluntary species conservation under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) on private lands. The administration has stated the proposed rules will offer greater clarity on the criteria by which certain permits are issued.

In a move welcomed by the conservation community, the Gulf of Maine lobster fishery will no longer seek recertification under the “blue fish tick” ecolabel, a program of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) that purportedly assures consumers that products carrying the label come from “sustainable” fisheries.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced that it will begin a comprehensive Endangered Species Act (ESA) status review of the grizzly bear in two specific regions of the lower 48 states. The announcement, in today’s Federal Register, follows the agency’s review of three petitions to delist the bear, two of which they say presented “substantial, credible information” that may warrant action.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released a disappointing final supplemental environmental impact statement for the proposed Willow Master Development Plan oil and gas project today, relying again on hasty and deficient analysis to assess the impacts that the massive ConocoPhillips’ proposal would have on local communities, Arctic wilderness, water and animals and the global climate. If approved, this project would be the largest on public lands and would set back our national climate goals tremendously.

Defenders of Wildlife applauds the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal today to deny a mining permit that would adversely affect the unrivaled natural resources of the Bristol Bay region, the world’s largest wild salmon fishery and habitat for the critically endangered Cook Inlet beluga whale.