News

Earthjustice In The News

Read how newspapers are covering the cases and issues Earthjustice is working on. You can also search Google News for Earthjustice stories by clicking here.

• 'Sneaky' Bush Attack on Endangered Species Angers Conservationists (Environmental News Service, 8/21/08)
  Saying the Bush administration's most recent Endangered Species Act rulemaking is "anti-democratic," 104 conservation and scientific organizations today submitted a letter to Cabinet officials calling for increased transparency and opportunities for public participation...
  
  
• Court Rejects EPA limits on Emissions Rules (New York Times, 8/19/08)
  A federal appeals court on Tuesday threw out an Environmental Protection Agency rule limiting the ability of states to require monitoring of industrial emissions...
  
  
• The American Pika--The Rabbit Cousin that Hates Global Warming (San Francisco Chronicle, 8/19/08)
  The American pika, a furry relative of rabbits and hares with a squeaky call, is getting pushed out of its mountain home because of global warming, say conservation groups. Today they went to court to protect its place on the planet...
  
  
• Lafarge among Worst Mercury Polluters (Richmond Review, 8/15/08)
  Earlier this month, Lafarge [cement kiln] was charged with seven environmental offences in connection with the venting of cement dust... with its New York plant venting 182 kilograms of mercury into the air each year. Earthjustice released the list [of top 10 polluting cement kilns] in hopes of spurring American regulators to take action against cement plants, which according to Earthjustice’s Jared Saylor are the single biggest source of mercury emissions in the U.S...
  
  
• 3 Common Pesticides Said to Harm West Coast Salmon  (Los Angeles Times, 8/14/08)
  Three common pesticides are helping push the Pacific Coast's prized but imperiled salmon closer to extinction, a new federal report has found. A 377-page draft study by federal fisheries experts contends there is "overwhelming evidence" that unfettered use of the pesticides is "likely to jeopardize the continued existence" of 28 salmon stocks off the West Coast...
  
  
• U.S. Moves to Loosen Rules that Protect Threatened Species  (Oregon Live, 8/11/08)
  The Bush administration on Monday gave federal agencies more leeway to decide whether development activities such as logging may harm endangered species...But conservation groups blasted the change, saying it removes key species safeguards built into federal decision-making...
  
  
• National Marine Fisheries Services to Review Effects of Pesticides on Salmon and Steelhead  (Seattle Times, 7/31/08)
  The National Marine Fisheries Services will review the effects of 37 pesticides on salmon and steelhead under a lawsuit settlement reached Wednesday with environmental and fishing groups. The federal fisheries agency will complete the reviews over a four-year period. The first deadlines are in October, when the agency is supposed to finalize three biological opinions on organophosphate pesticides...
  
  
• Judge Orders Interim Plan for Salmon Drawn Up  (San Francisco Chronicle, 7/24/08)
  A federal judge in Fresno ordered state and federal water regulators Wednesday to come up with an interim plan by the end of August for protecting migrating salmon in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta...
  
  
• Judge Returns Gray Wolves to Endangered List  (New York Times, 7/19/08)
  Gray wolves in the greater Yellowstone area of the northern Rocky Mountains, which would have been fair game for hunters in three states as a result of a federal government decision in March, were again put under the protections of the Endangered Species Act by a judge in Montana on Friday...
  
  
• Offshore Drilling Safer, but Smaller Spills Routine (Houston Chronicle, 7/19/08)
  When a Union Oil Co. well six miles off the California coast blew out in January 1969, an estimated 80,000 barrels of crude spewed into the Santa Barbara Channel — fouling beaches and marring the offshore industry's reputation...
  
  
• Judge Delivers Vindication but no Relief for Imperiled Salmon, Steelhead  (Los Angeles Times, 7/19/08)
  A federal judge struck a largely symbolic blow for imperiled salmon and steelhead Friday, declaring that the state's vast water-export system is putting the fish at risk but rejecting environmentalists' key demands for change...
  
  
• Environmentalists Sue EPA for Cleaner Water Rules  (Kansas City Star, 7/17/08)
  Five environmental groups sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday, claiming the federal government is violating the Clean Water Act by failing to set standards for farm and urban runoff that is polluting Florida's waterways...
  
  
• Army faces another Malama Makau Suit  (Honolulu Advertiser, 7/16/08)
  A Wai'anae Coast group has taken the Army back to court over its use of Makua Military Reservation, saying the service failed to include numerous "high priority" sites on a list for Hawaiian cultural access, and failed to provide opportunities for public input on the list as required...
  
  
• Group File Suit over Wolverine Protection Jackson Hole News & Guide, 7/9/08)
  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service violated federal law when it refused to protect the estimated 500 wolverines in the lower 48 states...Earthjustice filed a 60 notice of intent to sue Fish and Wildlife on Tuesday, on behalf of 10 conservation groups...
  
  
• Wolverine Advocates Give Notice of Intent to Sue Feds (Daily News-Miner, 7/8/08)
  The federal government's refusal to protect wolverines under the Endangered Species Act will be challenged in a lawsuit if the decision is not reversed within 60 days, a coalition of nine groups said Tuesday...
  
  
• Highwood Plant Foes Slap DEQ with Lawsuit (Great Falls Tribune, 7/1/08)
  Two environmental groups on Monday sued the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, alleging the state has failed to limit greenhouse gas emissions in an air permit for a coal-fired power plant planned east of Great Falls...
  
  
• Rulings Keep Protection for Murrelet (Anchorage Daily News, 6/30/08)
  A federal judge in Washington, D.C., and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals turned down actions last week stemming from the long-running battle over whether the marbled murrelet deserves Endangered Species Act protection...
  
  
• Environmentalists Sue to Overturn EPA Water Rule (Washington Post, 6/27/08)
  A Florida environmental group sued the Bush administration Friday over a recent decision to allow water to be transferred without a permit...
  
  
• Navy Disputes Protections to Protect Whales (ABC News, 6/26/08)
  The Navy is challenging Hawaii's authority to protect whales by restricting the use of sonar during training exercises, environmentalists and military representatives say...
  
  
• Florida Buying Big Sugar Tracts for Everglades (New York Times, 6/25/08)
  The dream of a restored Everglades, with water flowing from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay, moved a giant step closer to reality on Tuesday when the nation’s largest sugarcane producer agreed to sell all of its assets to the state and go out of business...
  
  
• Environmentalists to Sue EPA Over Park Haze (Los Angeles Times, 6/25/08)
  Environmentalists took steps on Wednesday to sue the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to compel states to clean up the haze plaguing the nation's parks, wildlife refuges and wilderness areas...
  
  
• Officials Call Off Aerial Spray for Apple Moth (San Francisco Chronicle, 6/20/08)
  California urban areas will not be sprayed aerially with pesticides to fight the light brown apple moth, state and federal agricultural officials announced...
  
  
• Suit Opposes Elk Feeding in Wyoming (New York Times, 6/4/08)
  Environmentalists filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in an effort to stop a federal wildlife refuge in Wyoming from continuing its longtime practice of feeding wild elk. They say such feeding could lead to or worsen an outbreak of chronic wasting disease in the large wildlife populations around Yellowstone National Park...
  
  
• Rancher Head to Court over Bison (Casper Star Tribune, 5/29/08)
  Cattle ranchers upset over a herd of bison still lingering outside Yellowstone National Park went to court Wednesday, seeking to compel the Montana Department of Livestock to move the animals and accusing the agency of jeopardizing the state's brucellosis-free status...
  
  
• Judge Asked to Rein in Wolf Killings in Northern Rockies (Salt Lake Tribune, 5/29/08)
  The fate of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies is now in the hands of a federal judge in Montana, after advocacy groups argued in court Thursday that the animal's recovery is threatened by their recent removal from federal protection...
  
  
• Primus' Les Claypool one of the many musicians to perform at SalmonAid in Oakland (Contra Costa Times, 5/29/08)
  "The purpose of Salmon-Aid is to highlight the urgent need to protect river habitats of salmon," said SalmonAid director and Earthjustice salmon organizer Jim McCarthy. "If the people knew what is going on here they would be outraged and if people were outraged they would demand change, "...
  
  
• California involved in Cuomo Lawsuit Against EPA (Sacramento Business Journal, 5/28/08)
  California is among a coalition of 14 states led by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in a lawsuit against the federal Environmental Protection Agency for "failing to protect the public and the environment,"...
  
  
• Hey! Hands Off My Herring! (The Daily Green, 5/22/08)
  A new report by the Herring Alliance (yes, there is a Herring Alliance) details the destructiveness of factories on the water, which are using nets the width of football fields and five stories tall to net 150 million pounds of herring and uncounted millions of pounds of other fish that inadvertently swim past the fine-mesh nets...
  
  
• US Lists Polar Bear as Threatened Species (Washington Post, 5/16/08)
  he Interior Department declared the polar bear a threatened species Wednesday because of the loss of Arctic sea ice but also cautioned the decision should not be viewed as a path to address global warming...
  
  
• County says Company has No Authority to Charge for Water (Maui News, 5/16/08)
  Maui County will formally protest Wailuku Water Distribution Co.’s application with the state to become a public utility with the authority to charge private customers for water...
  
  
• Judge Won't Delay Wolf Suit (Casper Star-Tribune, 5/9/08)
  A federal judge in Montana has rejected a request by the government to delay a lawsuit seeking to place the gray wolf back on the endangered species list, saying he's "unwilling to risk more deaths"...
  
  
• Lawsuit Seeks to Stop Oil Exploration in Arctic Seas (Seattle Times, 5/5/08)
  Alaska Native and environmental groups sued Monday to stop exploration by oil companies this summer in Arctic waters frequented by whales, seals and other marine species...
  
  
• Florida to Curb Ocean Sewage Dumping (MSNBC, 5/5/08)
  The sun-drenched beaches of southeast Florida lure tourists from all over the world. But few of them may realize that a torrent of human waste is dumped silently every day into the seemingly pristine waters offshore...
  
  
• Peruvian Smelter looses Environmental Certification (Latin America Press, 4/30/08)
  One of the largest metal smelters in the hemisphere, owned by US company Doe Run Peru and located in central city La Oroya, lost its environmental certification...
  
  
• Judge Orders US Polar Bear decision by May 15 (Reuters, 4/29/08)
  The Bush administration must decide by May 15 whether polar bears in the United States should be listed as threatened by climate change under the Endangered Species Act, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday, barring further delay...
  
  
• Off Endangered List, Wolves Face New Pressure from Hunters (Daily Herald, 4/28/08)
  Tony Saunders stalked his prey for 35 miles by snowmobile through western Wyoming's Hoback Basin, finally reaching a clearing where he took out a .270-caliber rifle and shot the wolf twice from 30 yards away...Gray wolves in the Northern Rockies have been taken off the endangered species list and are being hunted freely for the first time since they were placed on that list three decades ago...
  
  
• Valley Air Proposal gets Hearing (Fresno Bee, 4/28/08)
  A public hearing Wednesday at the regional air district may sound like a rerun of a debate last year -- dozens of activists criticizing a cleanup plan and district leaders defending their work...
  
  
• Judge Slams U.S. Report OKing Pumping more Delta Water (The San Francisco Chronicle, 4/17/08)
  "This is a historic decision," said Mike Sherwood, an Earthjustice lawyer who represents the environmentalists. "It may well be the turning point to reverse the decline toward extinction of these fish."
  
  
• Global Warming has a New Battleground: Coal Plants (The Los Angeles Times, 4/14/08)
  Every time a new coal-fired power plant is proposed anywhere in the United States, a lawyer from the Sierra Club or an allied environmental group is assigned to stop it, by any bureaucratic or legal means necessary...
  
  
• In the West, a Fierce Battle Over Wolves (The New York Times, 4/13/08)
  Since March 28, when the wolf was taken off the list of federally protected species in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, a fierce battle of perceptions and posturing has unfolded on the Web and in the news media as pro-wolf and anti-wolf forces stake out sometimes hyperbolic positions concerning where in the West animals and humans should exist...
  
  
• Wolf's Death Stirs Fear for Species' Fate (The Salt Lake Tribune, 4/7/08)
  The wolf known as 253M left the safety of Yellowstone National Park and lit out for Utah, on the way becoming a darling of wolf-watchers around the world. Nicknamed "Limpy" because his back legs were crippled in a fight when he was young, 253M was just shy of 8 years old - a wolf Methuselah - when he died March 28, shot in Wyoming on the first day wolves lost their protected status under the U.S. Endangered Species Act...
  
  
• Exhibit Gives Close-Up View of the Effects of Global Warmin (Providence Journal, 4/3/08)
  "Irreplaceable: Wildlife in a Warming World" is the name of the new 40-print display that, over the next year, will be exhibited in such places as Montana, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Washington...