Image
Legal Intervention Aims to Protect North Atlantic Right Whales From Deadly Ship Strikes
Conservation groups today filed a motion to intervene to help fight a lawsuit aimed at overturning a seasonal speed rule protecting North Atlantic right whales from deadly vessel strikes. The groups want to defend the rule against a lawsuit brought by a New York vessel owner fined for violating seasonal speed limits. The suit alleges that NOAA Fisheries lacked the statutory authority to issue the rule.
Image
Final Rescission of Public Lands Rule Reverses Modern Land Management, Threatens Wildlife Habitat
The Bureau of Land Management today announced a decision to roll back the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, commonly referred to as the Public Lands Rule. The policy modernized how BLM manages our national public lands and represented the critical incorporation of ecological resilience into management alongside traditional resource extraction. The rule required science-based decision-making, conservation considerations within multiple land uses and a focus on sustaining public lands for the long-term benefit of wildlife and the American people.
Image
Trump Administration Cancels Critical Offshore Wind Projects and Increases Costs for Taxpayers
The Department of Interior this week announced that two offshore wind companies, Bluepoint Wind and Golden State Wind, have abandoned their developments. According to reports, the companies received some $900 million to walk away from the projects.
Press Releases
Image
Fisheries Commission Takes Cautious Approach on Proposal That Threatens Red Knots in Delaware Bay
Conservation groups, including Defenders of Wildlife, commended today’s decision by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to forego, for now, authorizing a bait harvest of female horseshoe crabs in Delaware Bay, where the crabs’ eggs fuel a globally significant stopover habitat for migratory shorebirds.
Image
Wildlife Advocates Applaud Restart of Process to Return Grizzly Bears to North Cascades
Conservation groups and other wildlife advocates applaud the Biden administration’s announcement today that it is restarting the process required to return grizzly bears to the North Cascades Ecosystem (NCE) - a large network of mostly protected public lands that spans from northwest Washington State into British Columbia and includes North Cascades National Park.
Image
Defenders of Wildlife Statement on the 2022 Election Results
Jamie Rappaport Clark, president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife, issued the following statement in response to the preliminary results from yesterday's midterm election:
Image
Emergency Petition Seeks to Shield Right Whale Moms, Calves From Ship Strikes
Defenders of Wildlife and partner conservation groups filed an emergency rulemaking petition with NOAA Fisheries today to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales from being struck and killed by vessels in their calving grounds off the coast of the southeast United States.
Image
Conservation Groups Prompt Federal Review of San Joaquin River Exchange Contract for First Time in 54 Years
Defenders of Wildlife applauded a decision by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to request a renegotiation of a decades-old use contract for the San Joaquin River that could spark stronger protection for wildlife and drought management.
jcovey@defenders.org
