Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup

In the wake of the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Earthjustice is calling for a halt to further exploratory oil drilling off America's coasts -- especially in fragile Arctic waters. Earthjustice President Trip Van Noppen issued the following statement:

The tragic explosion and loss of life on the exploratory drilling rig Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico reminds us that offshore oil drilling comes with continued risks to workers and the environment.

We welcome the White House announcement today that the administration would hold off on any new drilling until a full review of the spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been conducted. It is especially important that the pause in new drilling the administration announced today apply to current and future offshore drilling plans in America’s Arctic waters. Despite the dangers of offshore oil drilling, plans are already underway for new exploratory oil drilling to begin as early as July in the Arctic Ocean’s Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. If we are unable to contain the spill from Deepwater Horizon, how can we expect to do any better in the ice-laden Arctic Ocean.

Kemp's Ridley sea turtle laying eggs

The disastrous spill of oil from an exploded Gulf of Mexico drill rig is threatening many sea creatures , among them species that Earthjustice has worked to protect for years—including Kemp's Ridley, the world's most endangered species of sea turtle—and the western Atlantic bluefin tuna.

The Ridley is among five sea turtles that live and breed in areas of the gulf being invaded, or soon to be, by the massive spill. By Monday, oil is expected to start fouling beaches in Florida where the turtles haul out to lay eggs. Earthjustice sued to protect the turtles from being incidentally captured by longline fishing that targets other species. Last year, in response, the National marine Fisheries Service ordered a 6-month emergency closure on longline fishing.

Oil has already spread across areas of the Gulf where endangered western Atlantic bluefin tuna breed at this time of year. As with the turtles, Earthjustice has been trying to protect the tuna from longline fishing. Bluefin tuna spawn in the same gulf waters fished by longline vessels. Because spawning bluefin are highly stressed, most hooked bluefin die even if they are released.
 

Oil booms are set in Louisiana waters

<Update: By Monday, Florida's panhandle and western beaches will be seeing the same oil spill assault that Louisiana is now enduring, authorities say. Florida officials are concerned that it may cripple its $65 billion tourism economy, environment and fishing industry.>

<Update: Louisiana's $3 billion fishing industry jeopardized by oil spill, reports Wall Street Journal.>

<Update: President Obama said he is putting on hold plans to resume offshore drilling until a full investigation of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has been conducted.>

As oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill moves onto the Louisiana shoreline today, pressure is building against President Obama's plan to expand oil drilling off the shores of America. <Update: The drumbeat of political opposition to offshore drilling is getting louder, reports The Atlantic.>

USA Today was blunt in its lead headline: "Should oil spill end Obama's offshore oil drilling plan?"

Meanwhile, a local citizens action group, Gulf Restoration Network, was on the scene in Louisiana reporting on the sights, smell and damage already occurring along environmentally sensitive shorelines. The group is organizing an outpouring of volunteers offering to help clean up the oil.
 

Oil rig spill started hitting area jutting out

<Update: Go here for today's oil spill news.>

Oil from the Gulf of Mexico offshore drill rig explosion has just started hitting sensitive areas of the Louisiana coast, according to a locally based citizen action group, the Gulf Restoration Network. The group told Earthjustice that it was going out to investigate by airplane and by boat, but had no further information. Authorities hadn't expected the spill to hit land until later tonight or Friday.

Here is a link for local information, news and photos. The New York Times offers a visual depiction of areas and wildlife most endangered by the spill. The Los Angeles Times put together this snapshot of what's at stake. Earthjustice will provide a daily, updated report on the spill as events progress.

Today, after disclosing that the spill was five times worse than previously reported, the federal government and state of Louisiana both made crisis declarations. The White House dispatched top officials from the Homeland Security Department, Environmental Protection Agency and Interior Department to the Gulf Coast, while Louisiana's governor declared a state of emergency.
 

<Update: This month, Chevron quietly let pass its final opportunity to appeal a California Court of Appeal decision that rejected the Environmental Impact Report for its expansion project at the Richmond Refinery.>

Most of us know what it's like to have a bad neighbor—but imagine one so bad that you're forced to regularly hide indoors from it.

Such a bully has long stalked the communities of Richmond, CA, but this week they got help—from the California State Court of Appeals. The court sided with residents against their nightmare neighbor, a Chevron Corporation oil refinery that's been pouring toxic pollution upon them for years, that would like to make things even worse by refining thicker, dirtier oil.

The court stopped Chevron dead in its tracks because its expansion plan relied on an Environmental Impact Report so deficient that the court ruled it illegal. It's not likely the end of this fight, but for Earthjustice and the folks it's standing up for, this is the best news they've had in years of struggle with Chevron.

View of Glacier National Park

This is quite a week for the unmatchable Flathead River Valley in Montana. First, ConocoPhillips said it was relinquishing oil and gas leases on 169,000 acres near the Glacier National Park, and now, the Obama administration is backing efforts to preserve nearly 300,000 acres in the valley near the park.

The administration said it supports legislation by Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) that would ban oil/gas drilling and mining in the area.

Last February, after Canada banned mining and mineral development in its portion of the Flathead River Valley, Earthjustice attorney Tim Preso described the area as "a treasure more precious than coal or gold."

Today—thanks to a decision by ConocoPhillips—you can expand Preso's description to include oil and gas in Montana's portion of the Flathead Valley. Conoco announced that it was giving up its oil and gas leases on 169,000 acres near Glacier National Park.

The lease withdrawal follows a request from Montana's U.S. senators, and is part of the senators' larger strategy to ban all mineral development in the U.S. portion of the valley.

(In 1970, Terry Winckler organized the first Earth Day in Orange County, CA. A true grassroots movement, it exploded out of nowhere, he recalls, giving his war-weary generation something positive to rally around. Here are some of his recollections)

It was a simpler, dirtier time, 40 years ago. Everybody littered and no one seemed to notice our trash-encrusted public places. Was recycling even a word in 1970?

Everything not tossed out of car windows got tossed into landfills, which fattened the county's valleys as fast as bulldozers could churn. Upper Newport Bay—the biggest estuary south of San Francisco—was about to be filled in, too…with concrete…a victim of the era's unrestrained growth ethic.

DDT insecticide, toxic chemicals of every kind, paint by the noxious bucketfuls, and of course, engine oil, all got spewed into the air, flushed into the ocean, or simply tossed wherever—out of mind if not out of sight. An oily, stinky froth stained the edges of our waterways.

Rock Creek Mine proposed for this area in Montana

In a victory for imperiled native trout and grizzly bears, a court has stopped a proposed silver and copper mine that would have tunneled beneath a remote wilderness in northwest Montana

The proposed Rock Creek Mine would have smothered bull trout spawning grounds under tons of sediment and disrupted thousands of acres of habitat for the region's small grizzly bear population, all while threatening to drain the water out of scenic alpine lakes in the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness.

This week, after seven months of dodging bullets, Idaho's wolves got a reprieve: the statewide hunt that left 188 of them dead is over.

The actual number of wolves killed since hunting was legalized last year is more than 500—including those shot during the Montana season and others killed by governmental agents protecting livestock.

Wolves became fair game in Idaho and Montana last year after losing the protection of the Endangered Species Act—a move initiated by the Bush administration and ultimately endorsed by the Obama administration. Almost immediately after Sec. of Interior Ken Salazar agreed to the delisting, the states of Idaho and Montana announced fall hunting seasons.