Congressman Holt Introduces Bill to Protect Wildlife Corridors

Last week, Representative Holt (D-NJ) introduced the Wildlife Corridors Conservation Act.  The bill is designed to identify and protect strips of land throughout the country that allow plants and animals to move and migrate.  Corridors are vitally important in a warming world as they allow the necessary space for our lands and wildlife to adapt and become more resilient to climate change.

The legislation would accomplish three main points.  It would:

• Create a national wildlife corridors information program within the U.S. Fish & Wildlife to collect and disseminate relevant information to states and federal agencies;
• Establish the Wildlife Corridors Stewardship and Protection Fund to provide grants to a variety of state, federal, and local entities;
• Would require the Department of Agriculture, Department of the Interior and the Department of Transportation to consider the preservation of identified migration paths in their management plans.

Thank you Congressman Holt for taking this vitally important first step toward protecting and helping our lands and wildlife survive!

Read Holt's press release.

Secretary Salazar Approves Cape Wind Project

Yesterday, nine years after it was initially proposed, Secretary Salazar finally approved the nation's first offshore wind farm.  Located about 5 miles off Cape Cod in the waters of Nantucket Sound, the project will begin construction of 130 turbines by the end of this year.  The $1 billion dollar project has been stalled and long opposed by many residents of Nantucket, Cape Cod, and Martha's Vineyard.  It has also faced opposition from two Wampanoag Native American tribes who claim the area has cultural and spiritual significance and possibly sits atop burial grounds under the seabed.  The Secretary has worked to address the concerns of both the residents and the tribes and has altered the project as such.

 

The area where Cape Wind is to be built is considered one of the best places on the East Coast to build such a farm, according to wind experts.  We are pleased to see this project go forward responsibly and with minimal impact to the marine environment and sites of cultural significance.  It truly marks a step forward in our country's commitment to clean energy.  It will act as a model for numerous other such projects in the near future.

Read the Sierra Club's press release.

Gulf Oil Spill Continues to Grow

The oil rig that exploded into America's consciousness on April 20 is still spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico at an alarming rate.  The initial explosion took a devastating human toll and the rig sunk two days later, but there was little indication as to how large the actual spill would grow.  Located 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana, initial estimates put the leak at about 1,000 barrels a day.  As of yesterday, however, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) concluded that oil was leaking at a rate of approximately 5,000 barrels a day, 5 times more than previously expected.  Some estimates obtained from NASA images predict spill rate much higher still.

Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig Photo Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard

As of earlier this week, the slick was already covering over 2,200 square miles, and spreading rapidly.  Yesterday evening, emergency clean-up crews began experimentally burning the oil to keep it from reaching shore.  Initial burning attempts were deemed successful but so far no one has been able to control the leak.  As of last night, the western edge of the slick was estimated to be within 10 miles of shore.   

This is a tragic refutation to all the industry's claims that offshore drilling is safe and that spills don't happen.  Tell this administration that our country cannot be put at risk merely to fill the pockets of Big Oil.  Tell them no more drilling off our coasts!

Obama Announces Offshore Drilling Plan

Last week, the Obama administration announced its very unfortunate plan to move forward on offshore drilling.  Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has been involved in rewriting the Bush 5-year drilling plan for the better part of a year, a plan that opened virtually all of our coasts to industrial development.  Obama's announcement on Tuesday, March 30th, while nowhere near as destructive as the previous plan, still puts highly valuable coastal economies and ecosystems at risk and does not send the right signal about transitioning to a clean energy economy.

The plan, as laid out by Obama, would open the Mid and South Atlantic (from Delaware through Cape Canaveral) to exploratory seismic testing, would go forward with a lease off Virginia's coast (following an assessment of environmental impacts), would allow a lease in the Eastern Gulf (assuming the same set of environmental analyses), and would allow exploratory drilling in Alaska's ice-choked Beaufort and Chukchi seas to go forth.

Read our press release about this disappointing decision.

Take action to keep offshore drilling out of the climate bill!

Forest Service Crafting a New Rule that Will Govern the Future of Forests

Last week, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Forest Service (USFS) held four full days of presentations and roundtables regarding the National Forest Management Act and the development of a new forest planning rule.  This rule will determine how our public forests and grasslands across the country are managed.  The week started off in Washington, DC with a two-day science forum featuring presentations on issues ranging from new modeling and monitoring programs to biodiversity and climate change.

Sierra Club staff and numerous colleagues from other conservation organizations attended the science forum and participated in the two-day national roundtable that helped establish a dialogue between Forest Service staff and various stakeholders, including representatives from the forest products industry and advocates for mechanized recreation.  With our coalition partners, the Sierra Club urged the Forest Service to focus on saving America's outdoor legacy by applying sound science, protecting fish and wildlife, addressing climate change, ensuring accountability to the American public, and preserving water and watersheds.

The USDA and USFS now move through the country with a series of regional roundtable discussions about the new planning rule.  Throughout the month of April, there will be no fewer than 34 such discussions across every region of the Forest Service.  The Sierra Club and our partner organizations are actively organizing around these discussions to ensure a wide variety of stakeholders are at the table.  We will strive to make sure that the emphasis on good science didn't just stop after the two-day science forum and that the Forest Service hears the same message across the country: we need a rule that protects our waters, lands, fish and wildlife from the challenges they face in a warming world.

Read more on the Forest Service's website.

Colorado Inches Toward Opting out of Roadless Rule

Earlier this week, the state of Colorado moved one step closer toward opting out of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule by proposing a new plan to manage Colorado's roadless forest areas.  The plan put forward by the state would allow activity on up to 30,000 acres of inventoried roadless areas, including significantly expanding ski resorts as well as expanding the operations of three coal mines.  This plan sets a bad precedent and undermines the 2001 rule.

Photo Courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service

The Roadless Area Conservation Rule, originally signed into law by Bill Clinton in 2001, was attacked repeatedly during the Bush administration, most significantly by exempting the Tongass National Forest from the protections.  Additionally, Bush instituted a temporary policy by which states could opt out of the federal rule and create a state-specific plan.  Both Idaho and Colorado took advantage of this policy before it was reversed.  Idaho's plan has already been finalized and several organizations, including the Sierra Club, have filed suit.

This proposal now moves to the Obama administration which has promised to uphold and defend the 2001 rule.  We strongly urge them to oppose any project, this Colorado petition included, which undermines the integrity of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

Read our press release here.