NWF: On First Ever Carbon Pollution Limits, We Can’t Wait

March 15-The Obama administration may delay first-ever limits on carbon pollution from new power plants, according to a report Friday by the Washington Post.

Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, said today:

“The Environmental Protection Agency went through a rigorous process to design the first-ever limits on carbon pollution from new power plants. They’re long overdue, desperately needed to protect America’s wildlife and communities from climate change, and over three million Americans have spoken up in support of them. Any signal they’re stalled just ensures further delay in confronting climate change at a time when the Americans are looking for momentum.

Obama Administration Delivers on Longstanding Promise to the American People Drakes Estero Receives Full Wilderness Protection 

November 29-The National Wildlife Federation applauds the Obama Administration and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar for granting full wilderness protection to Drakes Estero, the ecological heart of Point Reyes National Seashore in northern California. This decision guarantees vital protection to the hundreds of fish and wildlife species that rely on the Estero and fulfills a longstanding promise to the American people.

“This is the right decision for people and wildlife,” said Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. “Secretary Salazar honored this historic agreement with all Americans to protect marine wilderness, and this legacy will be enjoyed for generations of people and wildlife to come.”

For more on this historic decision, check out the following blog post:

• Victory for California’s Harbor Seals!

EPA Takes Tough Stand with Suspension of New BP Contracts

November 28-The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today its temporary suspension of BP from new contracts with the federal government, citing “BP’s lack of business integrity as demonstrated by the company’s conduct with regard to the Deepwater Horizon blowout, explosion, oil spill, and response.”John Kostyack, vice president for wildlife conservation of the National Wildlife Federation, said today:“The federal government should throw the book at BP for its criminal and negligent actions, using the full weight of the criminal and civil laws.  Today’s decision helps to send a loud and clear message: Recklessly damaging America’s natural resources will be met with harsh penalties.The Environmental Protection Agency’s move is a tough accountability measure designed to deter oil companies from cutting corners on safety and putting profits ahead of people, like BP did in the Gulf oil disaster.

For more on the BP Settlement, check out these blog posts:

• Lagniappe for the Mississippi River Delta—and the Gulf of Mexico
• Thanksgiving: A Note of Gratitude to NWF Supporters
• Gulf Dolphins are Still Dying—Don’t Let BP Off Easy

Newly Announced Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Leases Mark Progress

November 30-The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management today announced plans to sell leases for preliminary offshore wind energy development activities in two areas of federal waters recently identified and reviewed off the coasts of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Virginia. The leases will be sold through a competitive auction in 2013. Catherine Bowes, senior manager for new energy solutions at National Wildlife Federation, said today: “Today’s announcement is a major step forward in America’s pursuit of offshore wind energy. Properly-sited clean energy like offshore wind is critical for protecting wildlife from the dangers of climate change, and we applaud the Obama Administration for taking action to advance an important new clean energy source for America.

For more on clean energy, check out the following blog post:

• Sandy’s Mandate: Time to Get Serious About Clean Energy

Report: Water Under Pressure
November 29-What Oil Shale Could Mean for Western Water, Fish and Wildlife–For more than a century, efforts to wring oil out of rock formations in the Rocky Mountain West have waxed and waned. The deposits underlying northwestern Colorado, southwestern Wyoming and northeastern Utah have been portrayed as “the Saudi Arabia’’ of oil shale, a vast source of domestic energy that would cut U.S. dependence on foreign oil, create many jobs and produce millions of dollars of revenue for state and local governments.

That same area, the 16,000-square-mile Green River Formation, is home to some of the nation’s most valuable fish and wildlife habitat. Colorado’s Piceance Basin boasts North America’s largest migratory mule deer herd and some of the country’s largest elk herds. The huge tracts of public land also support greater sage-grouse, Colorado River cutthroat trout, black bear, bald eagles and mountain lions. Hunting, fishing, other wildlife-based activities and outdoor recreation are cornerstones of the regional economy and integral to the area’s lifestyle, heritage and identity.

For more on Oil Shale, check out the following blog post:

• The Energy Future is Now: Extend wind tax credits

And now here are highlights from NWF in the news:

• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Expert says swift action needed to calm climate
• Public News Service: BP Suspended from New Off-Shore Contracts
• UPI:  NWF: EPA ban for BP sends ‘loud’ message
• CoEXIST: How Nonprofit Social Media Can Connect Supporters To The Cause
• E&E Energywire: Outdoors coalition launches campaign to support cautious development

For more visit www.nwf.org/news

Ed Perry is an aquatic biologist who retired in 2002 after a 30-year career with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, where he supervised the section responsible for protecting streams and wetlands. Since 2007, has traveled across Pennsylvania as an advocate for the National Wildlife Federation’s global warming campaign, educating hunters, anglers and conservationists about the effects of climate change on Pennsylvania’s fish and wildlife.

After 20+ years of study, the Environmental Protection Agency finally released the first ever rule to reduce mercury emissions.

I am a life-long fisherman, and my wife and two sons and I have fished and camped all over our great country. We’ve caught grayling and west slope cutthroat trout from high mountain lakes and had a delicious meal of fish over our night-time camp fire.

Fishing the Penobscot/ photo by Alan Gregory

Since the Susquehanna is down-wind from hundreds of coal-fired power plants, I know the fish are contaminated with mercury. In fact, mercury has contaminated the river so much that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania recommends eating only one meal of walleye and smallmouth bass per month in that reach of the river beginning at the New York border extending 200 miles downstream.

This year, for the first time, I will be taking my grandson fishing on the Susquehanna River. Like all kids, he will want to keep the fish he catches. But I will have to tell him to throw them back. There is no way I would subject that still growing little kid to something as toxic as mercury.

Frankly, it is hard to believe that up until this year, mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants was unregulated. Pennsylvania ranks 2nd in the country in pounds of mercury emitted from coal-fired power plants and we have 3 of the nation’s top 10 dirtiest power plants. This is one area where Pennsylvanians don’t want to be a leader.

Even though the toxicity of mercury pollution is well documented in the scientific literature, the coal industry and its allies have fought against sensible mercury regulations for decades. Frankly, I have had it with the tired refrain that new regulations will damage our economy, when in reality, it is our families, our kids, and those with health problems who are paying the real price for our inaction.
It is long past time that we implement the technically and economically feasible alternatives to unregulated mercury emissions. This is one sportsman who is grateful to EPA and this Administration for standing up to the fossil fuel industry.

Tell the Obama Administration how you feel about mercury and other toxic chemicals that are polluting our air and water >>