NWF Interior Nominee a Strong Voice for America’s Great Outdoors

February 06-President Barack Obama will nominate Sally Jewell, chief executive officer of Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI), to head the Interior Department, as first reported by the Washington Post.

Jim Lyon, vice president for conservation policy at the National Wildlife Federation, said today:

“Sally Jewell is a business leader who knows that conserving America’s natural resources is fundamentally linked to a healthy and strong economy. Outdoor recreation contributes $646 billion to America’s economy and delivers $49 billion in tax revenue annually, but faces a critical challenge as Washington considers even more cuts to conservation programs on top of steep cuts already made.

For more on Sally Jewell’s nomination, check out the blog post: Will New Interior Secretary Put Conservation On Equal Ground with Energy? 

And now here are highlights from NWF in the news:

• UPI: NWF: Enbridge pipeline review lax
• Associated Press (MA):  Report: Climate change affects region’s wildlife
• Star Tribune: State species at risk as climate heats up (Editorial)
• MinnPost: Where the wild things aren’t: Moose, other species fade with climate change
• WFIR: Changing climate could have big impact on Virginia’s wildlife
• The Mercury: What is the purpose of National Wildlife Week?
• Dunwoody Crier: Create a wildlife habitat in your backyard

For more visit www.nwf.org/news

On Wednesday, President Barack Obama nominated Sally Jewell, CEO for the outdoor outfitter REI, as successor to Ken Salazar as Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior.  Conservation groups, senators and Western energy producers alike praised the selection as a smart choice to do everything from protecting land, connecting kids to nature, addressing climate change, creating jobs and increasing development.

Rocky Mountain National Park, CO. Flickr photo by DaveTBear

Hopefully future Secretary Jewell will accomplish that vision by heeding the words of  former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, who spoke this week at the National Press Club on the importance of restoring a true balance of conservation and energy development on public lands.

“On Equal Ground”

At the press conference, Sec. Babbitt praised the “excellent record” of Pres. Obama and Sec. Salazar, citing accomplishments like new vehicle fuel efficiency standards, doubling the production of renewable energy, protecting the Grand Canyon from uranium mining, creating an innovative management plan for Alaska’s Arctic Reserve, and more. But he also called on the Obama administration to improve his public lands conservation legacy in the second term by putting conservation on “equal ground” as energy development.

Babbitt compared the number of acres of permanently protected land under Obama to the last few presidents. The number has drastically declined during Obama’s tenure. Meanwhile, Babbitt noted, “the pace of oil and gas leasing on public lands has continued at a high rate.” While Secretary Babbitt acknowledged that energy development is an appropriate use of public lands, but clearly demonstrated the current imbalance of conservation and development, skewed heavily in favor of oil and gas drilling.

To restore this balance, Babbitt is calling on Interior (and thus future Sec. Jewell) to recommit to conservation. For every acre of land leased to oil and gas, Babbitt proposed, the administration (and Congress) should protect a new acre of land for conservation. He also urged President Obama to use his existing authority to designate new special places such as National Monuments or Wildlife Refuges in order to spur action from Congress. Capitol Hill needs a wake-up call — the 112th Congress is the first since WWII that did not designate even an acre of federal wilderness. Protecting the outdoors is not a radical idea. A new “State of the Rockies Conservation in the West” poll from Colorado College shows the overwhelming support of Western voters for protecting land and water and opposed the idea of turning public lands over to states and private interests.

“Where is the Balance?”

Former Secretary Babbitt is right: renewing the commitment between America and protection of the great outdoors will continue to ensure that future generations will be able to enjoy our country’s proud outdoor heritage and wildlife.  The Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development (SFRED) coalition, a group led by National Wildlife Federation, Trout Unlimited, and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, advocates for this same balanced approach on public lands, taking into account the cumulative impact to fish, wildlife habitat and water resources as well as hunting and fishing opportunities.

Drilling operations across tens of thousands of acres of the Roan Plateau on the Western Slope of Colorado. Flickr by SkyTruth

Fortunately, perseverance and citizen action eventually pays off when it comes to conservation on public lands.  Just this week the Colorado Bureau of Land Management decided to withdraw proposed oil and gas leases that include big game habitat and trout fisheries along the North Fork of the Gunnison River.  The decision followed protests and letters from hunters, anglers and wildlife enthusiasts concerned about selling leases using a 23-year-old resource management plan.

I do not envy Sally Jewell’s new job, but it is a critically important position that will shape the future of this country’s energy and conservation future.  Forget criticism from special interest groups: Jewell will have her hands full tackling climate change, figuring out ways to deal with potentially devastating budget cuts, protecting new landscapes despite Congressional inaction and finding ways to preserve clean air, water and wildlife.  It may still be the honeymoon period, but I am confident that she is up to the task.

 The Department of the Interior is facing devastating budget cut proposals from Congress.  If we expect Sally Jewell to be able to move conservation forward, she needs the resources to do her job.  Take action by sending a message urging Congress to not let the budget crisis devastate wildlife.

It’s a double whammy of trouble for them. First they’ll endure a barrage of painful and disruptive noise from the surveys, and should the oil platforms ever get built, their lives will be at risk daily from the inevitable spills. Two years after the BP Spill in the Gulf, have we failed to learn our lesson?

Blasts that Separate Mother and Calf

Baby dolphins, known as calves, will stay close to their mothers for up to 6 years. (Photo by J. D. Ebberly/Flickr)

According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the cumulative noise of all sea-going vessels is an incessant drone of near-constant sound in a growing number of oceans regions. Seismic surveys, conducted during offshore oil and gas exploration, use rapid discharges of compressed air from air gun arrays. These send acoustic shock waves down through the water column that is reflected back from sub-sea rock strata. The blasts are emitted every 10 seconds and may be as loud as 250 decibels.

Other sources of acoustic pollution associated with offshore oil and gas activities include drilling, platform machinery, vessel traffic, low-flying aircraft and helicopters, and the movement of oil, gas or water through valves and under-sea pipelines. These intense sounds travel a long distance across the ocean. A 2009 workshop of experts, sponsored by Okeanos Foundation for the Sea, reported, “These surveys can last for months and the noise they produce is virtually ubiquitous in the world’s oceans.”

In the end, the most tragic thing may be the degrading of habitat. “Chronic ocean noise – the ubiquitous din of shipping and fishing vessels, seismic surveys, pile driving: all of it – slowly but surely degrades the quality of habitat available to acoustically sensitive species,” writes Dr. Rob Williams of Oceans Initiative. Unlike some of the more intractable threats facing aquatic life however, this one is very solvable he writes. We need to cut the noise, and that means turning down the volume on the underwater heavy metal concert, not turning it up.

Sick Dolphins Reported in Gulf

Dolphins are social and intelligent animals who live in large groups called pods. Here is a dolphin dance, off of Kona Coast, Hawaii. (Photo by SteveD/Flickr)

These dolphins have a low body weight, anemia, low blood sugar and symptoms of liver and lung disease. It is so serious that the fisheries arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) declared an “unusual mortality event” for cetaceans (whales and dolphins) in the northern Gulf of Mexico from February 2010 to the present.

As of March 25, there were 706 cetacean “strandings” or beaching events of which five percent stranded alive and 95 percent stranded dead. Repeat: 95 percent dead. Even in the aftermath of the BP/Deepwater Horizon spill, we need to remind the oil and gas industry and its backers that seismic surveys and oil drilling can have huge consequences. After the BP spill, NWF Senior Scientist Doug Inkley said, “The Gulf oil disaster is to marine life what smoking is to humans – it could kill you, and if it doesn’t your general health suffers.”

We are still living with the legacy of the BP spill. In fact, some of the results are just emerging. Let’s not have a Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Atlantic.

You can help NWF’s call for wildlife-friendly clean energy by donating to help us protect marine mammals and by learning more about our Gulf recovery efforts.

A major focus of the AGO report, released in February 2011, was the importance of reconnecting kids with nature, for their health and wellbeing and for the future of conservation.

Right before this conference, I was thrilled to see that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Education Secretary Arne Duncan signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work in a more intentional and collaborative fashion toward common goals. According to the press release, the agreement will enable “the Department of the Interior and the Department of Education to work together in new and more effective ways to connect young Americans to the outdoors, improve environmental literacy, support experiential learning outside the classroom, and form partnerships at the local level to learn from and conserve public lands.”

This is a good sign from the Administration about its commitment to making sure Americans are clued in to the world around them, especially after canceling funding for environmental education programs at NOAA and EPA last month.

Under the agreement, Interior may offer both professional development opportunities for teachers and other educators, including workshops, in-depth subject-matter seminars, and summer employment opportunities. The goals include improving teaching skills and developing deeper levels of subject-matter expertise, with a special emphasis on those who work in, or will work in, Title I, rural, and other high-need schools.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you’d like to learn more about America’s Great Outdoors and connecting kids with nature, download the full America’s Great Outdoors report or TAKE ACTION to reconnect kids with nature by supporting the Healthy Kids Outdoors Act.

Recently, tribal leaders, landowners, hunters, anglers, conservationists, business owners and government leaders gathered in Washington, D.C. for the White House Conservation Conference. Tourism and outdoor recreation, coastal conservation, river restoration and hunting and fishing were important topics of discussion, as well as other key conservation issues. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsak, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar also attended the event.

President Barack Obama addressed the crowd, stating that, “effective conservation is about more than protecting the environment, it’s about strengthening the economy.” The President also highlighted the historic significance of conservation within the United States. He spoke about the value of  protecting “the incredible bounty we’ve been blessed with” for current and future generations of Americans by placing conservation at the forefront of the national agenda. You can hear more of President Obama’s thoughts on conservation by watching the conference video above.

Na'Taki (Photo by Bryan Meltz)

This was big news in its own right, but it has added importance for NWF. Our very own Na’Taki Osborne Jelks was appointed to the 21CSC Advisory Committee.  Congratulations Na’Taki!!!

Na’Taki is NWF’s Manager for Education and Advocacy Programs in the Southeast Region, based in Atlanta, GA.  She works with individuals and community organizations to restore the communities in which they live, work, play, worship and learn through NWF’s youth environmental education and leadership development program for teens of color, Earth Tomorrow, and many adult civic engagement and advocacy initiatives.

In addition to her role at NWF, Na’Taki is a part-time lecturer in the Environmental Science and Studies Program at Spelman College and is Chair of the Board of the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance (WAWA), an organization committed to ensuring environmental justice in Southwest and Northwest Atlanta’s African American neighborhoods.  She’s been honored by a wide range of groups–from the Georgia House of Representatives to Turner Broadcasting Services (TBS).  Na’Taki is an alumna of Spelman College.  She earned her Master’s of Public Health in Environmental and Occupational Health from Emory University and is currently working on her Ph.D. in Environmental Public Health at Georgia State University.

Here’s what Interior Secretary Ken Salazar had to say about 21CSC:

“The 21st Century Conservation Service Corps will be a way for our nation’s young people to work on conservation initiatives that drive America’s economy and to find new ways to connect to their communities and build their careers. The conservation-service movement is steeped in rich history dating back to the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933. I am confident that this committee of dedicated individuals with vast experience in conservation and outdoor recreation will help shape a sustainable structure to train and employ the next generation of conservationists.”

(Read the full press release here.)

Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior, was scheduled for a pay adjustment that would bring his salary in line with the other Cabinet secretaries; before he joined the White House, Salazar was a member of the US Senate and therefore ineligible for the higher-paying Cabinet salary. But Sen. Vitter, a champion for his state’s oil and gas industry, accused Salazar of stifling production in the Gulf of Mexico and vowed to block the raise until the Interior Department meets his demands.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar helps volunteers clean up oil damage to beach at Gulf Islands National Seashore (photo: Tami A. Heilmann-DOI)

From TheHill.com:

“Given the completely unsatisfactory pace of your department’s issuance of new deepwater exploratory permits in the Gulf, I cannot possibly give my assent,” Vitter said in a letter to Salazar. […]

Vitter said he would agree to Salazar’s pay increase once BOEMRE begins issuing deepwater permits for new exploratory wells in the Gulf at a rate of six per month.

Politico’s David Rogers writes that Sen. Vitter’s tactics may cross the line on Congressional ethics rules:

It was Washington politics at its rawest, but Vitter’s actions also tread close to federal statutes which make it a crime to offer anything of value to a public official “to influence any official act.”

“It reads like the bribery statute,” said a Washington defense attorney with long experience dealing with such cases. And in a letter provided Tuesday to Capitol newspapers including POLITICO, Salazar— a former state attorney general in Colorado— asked that the pay bill be withdrawn rather than give in to what he saw as Vitter’s “attempted coercion of public acts here at the Department.”

Vitter has been working closely with his Democratic counterpart, Mary Landrieu, on legislation to restore the Gulf’s damaged ecosystem, but it’s not the first time he’s taken on the Administration over drilling decisions—Vitter has also blocked Senate confirmation of the the US Fish & Wildlife Service director until 15 new deepwater permits have been issued for the Gulf. The Interior Department has already issued 14 permits this year, and President Obama recently announced plans to accelerate drilling in the Arctic and off the Atlantic coast.

The Deepwater Horizon rig burns (photo: Anthony Posey/flickr)

Congress remains starkly divided on the issue—last week the Senate rejected a bill that would have opened new areas to offshore drilling, sped up the permitting process and removed important environmental safeguards. The House passed three similar measures earlier this month, drawing fire from worker safety advocates and environmental groups who pointed out that Congress still hasn’t passed legislation responding to the Deepwater Horizon tragedy.

Urgent Action! Please Speak up for Wildlife Now!

Help stop dangerous legislation that slashes critical funding for agencies that defend our nation’s wildlife. Call your U.S. Representative and tell them to “Vote No on the Continuing Resolution.”

Smog over downtown Los Angeles, 1965 (Metro Transportation Library and Archive)

Pollution isn’t a Republican issue or a Democratic issue; mercury poisoning and acid rain don’t discriminate.  Many of our most important environmental laws were passed with bipartisan support, and we all benefited.

Yet for decades polluters have been trying to sell a lie to the American people.  We have been told that “what’s good for society” is cheap power and corporate profits, that any regulations are a threat to our way of life.

Never mind the fact that business-as-usual meant poisoned drinking water in our taps and dirty air that gave our kids asthma, or that it wiped out natural habitat and decimated wildlife across the country.  Never mind that our history is littered with countless examples of industrial abuse: the Cuyahoga River; Love Canal, NY; the Gulf of Mexico, the razed peaks and toxic streams of West Virginia.  Never mind that it has too often left behind working-class Americans while stuffing the wallets of CEO’s.

Communities in every state have stories like this, but they also have stories about how they were helped by environmental regulations.  In the 40 years since they were enacted, laws like the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act have been a thin green line safeguarding us from polluter excess, giving us clean skies and keeping poisons out of our streams.  They have spurred economic growth and green jobs while preserving our cherished wildlife legacy. It has been a long and sometimes bumpy road, but our country has made real progress.  Drop a match on the Cuyahoga now and you’re going to see a fizzle, not a flame.

Photo: Michael Devlin

But the fight is far from over, and this weekend we learned that the polluters and their allies in Congress are taking another shot:

Buried within the House’s new budget proposal are attacks intended to cripple these two landmark bills and the Environmental Protection Agency.

The first would prevent EPA from working to protect our nation’s wetlands, streams, lakes and headwaters.  The second would force the agency to turn a blind eye to carbon dioxide pollution from smokestacks, in defiance of a Supreme Court order and sound science.  For all their talk of fiscal responsibility, it’s telling that House leaders refused to consider cutting $3.6 billion in giveaways to Big Oil — cuts highlighted in President Obama’s budget plan.  Yet the overall budgets for EPA and the Interior Department, which oversees our public lands and natural resources, would be slashed by $4.4 billion.

The Arctic Fox is one of many species threatened by climate change (photo: Robby Bieber)

These policies would affect liberals and conservatives, East Coast soccer moms and Wyoming hunters.  The public understands this: a recent poll confirms that 77% of Americans, including 61% of Republicans, believe that “Congress should let the EPA do its job.” Only 18% believe that “Congress should block the EPA from updating pollution safeguards.”

So we stand now at a real crossroads – one path leads back to the bad old days when factories dumped toxic waste into our fisheries, but the other leads us forward to clean water and clean air, healthy wildlife and green jobs.  It’s an easy choice.

Speak up for wildlife against big polluters — tell your Representative to vote NO on the “continuing resolution.”

You can read more of NWF’s budget breakdown here.

Urgent Action! Please Speak up for Wildlife Now!

Help stop dangerous legislation that slashes critical funding for agencies that defend our nation’s wildlife. Call your U.S. Representative and tell them to “Vote No on the Continuing Resolution.”

The Clean Air and Clean Water Acts protect the great outdoors for our children and future generations.

The nation’s budget deficit needs to be addressed with responsible and transparent solutions.  Republican leaders of the House Appropriations Committee have instead decided to exploit the budget crisis to pursue a hidden agenda long sought by some of the nation’s biggest polluters.

Buried in the Continuing Resolution (CR) spending plan released by Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Kentucky), Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, are two attacks on the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act that have nothing to do with saving money.  The budget deficit is being used as cover to mount a reckless and irresponsible attack on the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act that endangers the air we breathe, the water we drink and the wildlife and lands we cherish.

Clean Water Act Loopholes

The proposed legislation protects recent loopholes in the implementation of the Clean Water Act that jeopardize the drinking water for 117 million Americans and have opened 20 million acres of wetlands and prime wildlife habitat to polluters and developers.  The CR bans the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from working to close these loopholes, which put at risk wetlands such as those in the Prairie Pothole Region, breeding grounds for 50-75 percent of North America’s duck population.  A coalition of America’s leading sportsmen and conservation organizations representing millions of members have urged EPA to restore the Clean Water Act’s longstanding protections for the wetlands, streams, lakes and headwaters that are vital for drinking water and wildlife but have been left vulnerable to pollution and destruction.

Clean Air Act: A Blindfold and Gag Order for EPA

The CR’s Clean Air Act prohibitions would place an unprecedented blindfold and gag order on the Environmental Protection Agency.  It requires EPA to turn a blind eye to carbon dioxide pollution from smokestacks, in defiance of the Clean Air Act, a Supreme Court order and sound science.  EPA would be prohibited from assisting states in their efforts to reduce emissions.  The ban will encourage industry to install old, highly polluting technologies even when newer, cleaner alternatives exist.

EPA’s responsible enforcement and updating of the Clean Air Act are a big part of the legislation’s 40-year successful track record protecting public health and wildlife from pollution.

The Clean Air Act:

• protects our lungs from soot and smog;
• helps keep our kids from developing asthma;
• keeps toxins like mercury out of rivers and the fish we eat;
• scales back the damage from acid rain; and
• saves lives.

But contrary to what polluters would have us believe, the Clean Air Act’s work is not done.  Toxic controls have been lax for too long and are only now being updated.  7 million kids still suffer from asthma, with more kids succumbing every day.  And polluters are not held accountable for the carbon dioxide pollution dumped into our atmosphere from smokestacks.

Where Did These Attacks on the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act Come From?

In addition to the attacks on the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act, the CR has a number of other provisions to reduce protections for wildlife and wild places.  But where did these attacks originate?

Voters didn’t go to the polls worried that our air is too clean or the water we drink too safe.  To the contrary, a recent poll confirms that 77% of Americans, including 61% of Republicans, believe that “Congress should let the EPA do its job.” Only 18% believe that “Congress should block the EPA from updating pollution safeguards.” Gallup had previously noted that 4 out of 5 Americans are personally worried about pollution of drinking water, rivers, lakes and reservoirs.

While Americans everywhere want our environmental laws enforced, some of the biggest polluters and their lobbyists in Washington have been pushing to roll them back.  Rep. Darrel Issa (R-Calif), Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sent a letter to oil companies and 150 other businesses and trade associations asking what regulations they wanted scaled back.  Not surprisingly, environmental safeguards were near the top of the list.

Dramatic Budget Cuts

The CR included budget cuts that need a thoughtful debate, but the House leaders are hoping to rush their bill to a vote just days after announcing it.  The $3.6 billion in annual government subsidies to oil and gas companies that President Obama proposes eliminating are noticeably absent from the House CR.  And yet their budget knives appear to have been especially sharp in cutting down the Department of Interior and Environmental Protection Agency.

Keep in mind that over the past 30 years, America’ investment in parks, wildlife, clean water, and clean air has fallen from 1.7% of federal spending to 0.6% of federal spending. This includes the full budget for the Department of Interior and EPA.  Although programs implemented by Department of Interior and EPA are a small sliver of federal spending, they currently deliver a big payoff in the form of 3 million jobs in communities throughout America.

According to summaries posted by the House Appropriations Committee, the CR legislation would include dramatic cuts of $4.4 billion to the budgets for Interior and EPA.  That includes a $393 million cut to the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), which helps expand national parks, protects hunting and fishing areas, and funds local projects like city parks and playing fields.  LWCF has provided crucial funding for some of America’s most amazing places throughout the nation, from Yellowstone National Park to the Appalachian National Scenic Trail to Gettysburg National Military Park. The CR also includes a crippling 29% cut to the Environmental Protection Agency.

America’s Non-Partisan Environmental Stewardship at Risk

The Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act were written 40 years ago by Republicans and Democrats working together to protect public health and our environment.  These pieces of legislation have been implemented with bipartisan support for decades.  We can’t afford to be silent while polluters advance their agenda through Congress under the guise of budget cuts.  We need to speak up and demand a transparent budget debate that focuses on moving our economy forward, not rolling back America’s environmental protections.

Here is the text of the two provisions, which can be found on page 276 of the CR:

SEC. 1746. None of the funds made available to the Environmental Protection Agency by this division or any other Act may be expended for purposes of enforcing or promulgating any regulation (other than with respect to section 202 of the Clean Air Act) or order, taking action relating to, or denying approval of state implementation plans or permits because of the emissions of greenhouse gases due to concerns regarding possible climate change.

12 SEC. 1747. None of the funds made available by this division or any other Act may be used by the Environmental Protection Agency to implement, administer, or enforce a change to a rule or guidance document pertaining to the definition of waters under the jurisdiction of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et 18 seq.).

Speak up for Wildlife

Call your U.S. Representative and tell them to “Vote No on the Continuing Resolution.”

It is called the National Wildlife Health Center and is located in Madison, Wisconsin.  It is part of the Department of the Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey.

We like to think of it as “Wildlife CSI.”

Each year, wildlife managers across the nation see or are notified of sick and dead animals, frequently on a large scale.  Sometimes these are the result of disease, such as the recent massive fish kill on the Arkansas River and sometimes the cause is harder to explain such as the blackbird deaths we saw recently in Beebe Arkansas.

Minimizing the spread of wildlife losses depends on effective technical and scientific support, knowledgeable guidance, and fast action.  The National Wildlife Health Center was established is to help with national and international wildlife health concerns. It acts somewhat like a Centers for Disease Control for wildlife.  It monitors disease and assesses the impact of disease on wildlife, examines ecological relationships leading to the occurrence of disease and offers on-site help to reduce wildlife losses when outbreaks occur.

In addition to the recent blackbird mystery, which the media has labeled “aflockalpyse,” the Center looks at other mysteries such as a recent set of songbird beak deformities in Alaska, avian influenza, and the scary white-nosed fungus syndrome that is killing off millions of bats in the East.   The Center maintains an online Mortality Event Map.

The Center staff teams also provide counsel to local people on animal welfare regulations and how they apply to wildlife.