For the cadre of Big Oil backers in the House, chief among them Speaker John Boehner, it’s one more chance to do the bidding of special interests. The question is – how far in this game of chicken are they willing to go?  Might they scuttle one million jobs that will be created by the transportation bill so oil companies can reap profits by building the dangerous Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. NWF’s Jeremy Symons said it well a few months ago and it still applies,

“Speaker Boehner is willing to put jobs at risk once again by hijacking the transportation bill.”

Here at NWF, we worked up a chart to check the spin of Keystone XL backers who are pondering scuttling the transportation bill.  Those big long bars on the right represent jobs that would be created or supported by the transportation bill.  Those little slivers on the left represent the industry’s own job projections by building Keystone XL. It’s below.

You can help stop the Keystone XL pipeline and tell Congress to protect wildlife instead of Big Oil profits.  Click here to take action.

Salmon Salmon!

Occasionally lost in the limelight of nude bicyclists, triple IPA’s and feminist bookstores is our amazing Chinook Salmon fishing.

How many places on our planet exist where on your lunch break you can cruise the river that bisects your downtown metropolis, go catch a salmon, and be back to work before your boss notices? Not too many.

This salmon fishery defines our state and is why the conservation work that the National Wildlife Federation is doing throughout the Pacific Northwest is so important.

Check out the video for proof that salmon fishermen are a little wacky and why many salmon fishermen will fight like hell against threats to the fishery.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Say “No” to Big Coal

Right now, Big Coal is attempting to transform Oregon’s majestic Columbia River from the heart of  our renewable energy corridor and salmon fishing paradise into the nation’s hub for exporting dirty coal to China.

If the big coal companies get their way, up to 38 million tons of coal per year could soon be shipped through Oregon on uncovered trains and exported through the Port of St. Helens- directly adjacent to one of the hottest salmon fishing spots on the river come late summertime. 

This is not the Oregon I know. No room for coal, lets keep it Bikes, Brews, Books, Salmon and more Salmon!

Live in Oregon? Speak up to stop coal export terminals today.

National Wildlife Federation’s Storytelling Video Diary Series shares the candid tales of 10 NWF staffers from around the country; armed with their cameras in California, Wisconsin, the Pacific Northwest, Northern Virginia, and Washington, DC, these nine staffers will share with you their individual trials, epiphanies and stories as they unfold in their daily adventures.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Already, 500 wolves have been cruelly killed this way in nearby developed areas, and this persecution is planned to expand in the tar sands area. If we don’t fight back, 6,000 more wolves may face the same fate.

Stopping the massive Keystone XL pipeline–which would roughly double imports of dirty tar sands oil into the United States–is a critical step in protecting wolves from the dangerous expansion of tar sands. Legislation to force the approval of Keystone XL is moving quickly, and your help is urgently needed to ramp up the fight to make sure Congress votes the right way for wolves.

Save wolves from dirty oil–urge your members of Congress to stand up against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

Great Lakes Remain Vulnerable to New Wave of Dangerous Mining, According to New Report

May 10 – Gaps, inconsistencies and loopholes in U.S. state and Canadian provincial laws are leaving the Great Lakes and other natural resources vulnerable to a new wave of mining activity sweeping the Upper Great Lakes states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota and Canadian province of Ontario, according to a new legal analysis by the National Wildlife Federation and Ecojustice Canada.

“Weak laws and lax enforcement undermine efforts to protect our water, wildlife and communities from this dangerous form of mining,” said Michelle Halley, National Wildlife Federation attorney. “There is an urgent need for the region to address these issues now or likely face decades of contamination and clean-up.”

And here is some news from our sister organization, NWF Action Fund

New Ad: Cleaner Air Isn’t Just Good For Our Lungs; It’s Good For Our Economy

May 10 – If politicians in Washington know that protecting the air we breathe not only protects people and wildlife, but also helps spur our economy, then why are they trying to gut Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) clean air standards? On Thursday, May 10, the National Wildlife Federation Action Fund (NWF Action Fund) and Earthjustice are launching a seven-figure TV ad buy that highlights the economic and health benefits associated with a transition to a greener economy, while also raising public awareness and support for EPA’s new clean air standards to limit industrial air pollution from power plants.

Here are highlights from NWF in the News:

• The Detroit News: Wildlife federation gives Michigan poor rating for mining regulatory system
• Gannett: Groups say mining laws too weak to protect Great Lakes
• Minnesota Public Radio: NWF wants more study of Great Lakes-area mining
• Minneapolis Star Tribune: Rep. Cravaack: Cut climate change education funds
• UPI: Keystone XL debate enters new phase

For more, visit www.nwf.org/News

With a new permit application, Keystone remains very much a threat, and Congress is debating a measure that would force construction of the dangerous project. But you can help: Speak up now to protect people and wildlife at risk, and prove to Big Oil that their money can’t buy our votes.

Graphic: Peter LaFontaine/National Wildlife Federation

Speak up now to protect people and wildlife at risk from tar sands and the Keystone XL pipeline.

Tundra Swan in flight (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

Tens of thousands of ducks and geese prized by sportsman, including Northern Pintails, Snow Geese, Greater White-fronted geese, Tundra Swans, Long-Tailed Ducks and more depend on the Reserve for nesting, feeding and molting each summer before heading south once again.  And the Reserve’s two major caribou herds, including the largest in Alaska, provide a vital subsistence resource for Native Alaskans as well as recreational hunting opportunities for sportsmen.

BLM’s draft management plan identifies an “Alternative B” that does the best job of protecting critical wildlife habitat in the Reserve – let BLM know you support that alternative.

Tell the Bureau of Land Management to Preserve the Best Places in the Reserve!

Lend your voice to the thousands of sportsmen, birders, subsistence users and others weighing in to ensure that the spectacular wildlife of the Reserve is protected for generations to come.

For now, I’d like to accentuate the positive. NWF has been working hard to make sure wildlife is represented  - read our 2012 Farm Bill priorities to learn more. We were pleased that one of our priorities – protection for native grasslands through a Sodsaver provision – was included in the Senate Agriculture Committee’s bill. I have written before about Sodsaver, a provision that will limit federal subsidies on native grassland converted into cropland.

Native grassland is an extremely valuable and under-appreciated biome in the US. I grew up a stone’s throw away from the Appalachians, and I remember clearly the first time I drove across the plains states. I had never seen the horizon so far away before, and the land stretching out flat, or slightly rolling until it met the sky. I have only recently started to learn how many amazing plants and animals live in the grasslands – like prairie chickens and Sandhill cranes.

5 Grassland Species

Here are 5 species that can thank the Senate Agriculture Committee for protecting their homes by including a Sodsaver provision – how many of these species did you already know? How many more can you name?

Black-footed ferret. Photo: US Fish and Wildlife Service

The Black-footed ferret is highly endangered and was once thought extinct. Ferrets prey on prairie dogs, who also depend on American grasslands.

Prairie kingsnake. Photo: Illinois Department of Natural Resources

Snakes are key predators and an important part of prairie ecosystems. Prairie kingsnakes are common grassland snakes that come in a variety of shades of grey to brown. They are non-venomous and they don’t usually bite, but they shake their tales if they feel threatened.

Pronghorn antelopes. Photo: US Fish and Wildlife Service

Regal fritillary butterfly. Photo: flickr, Bill Bouton

Butterflies that depend on prairie habitat are in decline, in Europe as well as the US. Many insects, including important pollinators, depend on grasslands to survive.

Burrowing owl family. Photo: flickr, Annette's photography

 Burrowing owls, like prairie dogs and ferrets, live in underground burrows (hence the name). Burrowing owls are also unique because they are often active during the day.

Did you already know these animals?  Can you think of any more?  If so, send us a comment through the feature below!

What would you do if, in one day, you lost everything?  I’m not just talking about your personal possessions; I’m talking about your entire community – your church, your grocery store, your school.  The folks you meet in the video below, Warrenetta Banks and John Taylor, have lived out this scenario every day since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005 and have chosen to respond with passion and dedication to recovery – advocating for smart, green urban planning on one side of the levee and a healthy wetland ecosystem on the other side of the levee.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Warrenetta and John are both lifelong residents of the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans.  In the years since catastrophic flooding, they’ve helped their community recover to be one of the “greenest” in the nation – solar panels, community gardens, LEED certified homes are typical encounters as you walk down the street.  That’s on one side of the levee.

Residents like Warrenetta and John understand all too well that the wetland ecosystem on the other side of the levee is critical to their future and safety.  Healthy wetlands serve as a buffer to storm surges and winds and help the levees do their job to protect communities.  National Wildlife Federation is one organization working closely with the Lower Ninth Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development  (where Warrenetta and John work) to plan and gain funding for restoration of the 400 acres cypress swamp bordering the community (featured in the video) as well as the entire 58,000 acres wetland ecosystem the swamp is connected to, which once buffered much of the Greater New Orleans area from storms and provided important wildlife habitat.

Without healthy wetlands, coastal communities like the Lower Ninth Ward remain very vulnerable to disasters.  Urgent funding is needed for restoration.  The RESTORE Act, legislation now making its way through the U.S. Congress, will use a portion of Clean Water Act penalties from the BP disaster to fund projects that will restore Gulf Coast ecosystems, including wetlands that protect communities and provide critical habitat for Gulf wildlife.  Right now, you can make a difference in the future of the Gulf Coast.  Learn more about the RESTORE Act and share your voice!

Send a message to your members of Congress, urging them to pass legislation to restore the Gulf today.

Sandhill cranes near Kearney, Nebraska on the Platte River earlier this spring (photo: flickr/stpaulgirl)

The Sandhills, in turn, are a unique landscape: 20,000 square miles, part desert, part grassland, with lakes and wetlands scattered throughout. Formed after the last Ice Age by winds that steadily built the dunes as high as 400 feet, the Sandhills are now stabilized by native grasses that allow farmers and ranchers to make a good living there. It is home not just to ranchers and cranes but also pronghorn antelope, porcupines, elk and bison, along with hundreds of other wildlife and plant species.

Making all this possible is a vast underground reservoir — the Ogallala aquifer — that sits beneath the Sandhills. It is our biggest water reserve, providing 30% of the groundwater used for irrigation in the entire US and drinking water for millions of Americans, and at some places the water table is so high that it’s actually at the surface, creating those lakes and wetlands. The Ogallala enabled the Great Plains to become “America’s bread basket,” but overuse threatens to suck this vital resource dry and now Big Oil (always eager to kick Mother Nature when she’s down) has raised the stakes for farmers and cranes alike.

Big Oil’s Dangerous Gamble

Tar sands pipelines spell big trouble for species like cranes (photo: Andrea Westmoreland)

The Global Labor Institute at Cornell University has concluded that spills from pipelines of tar sands-derived oil are three times as likely to occur per mile as spills of crude oil. And when they do, the researchers say, the damage is greater, the public health risks larger, the clean-up harder, the costs higher.

A spill over the aquifer would be a disaster. After a local and national outrcry — including criticism from Nebraska’s Republican governor and senators from both parties — sent Keystone XL back to the drawing board, the company has recently proposed another route. But the revised project still crosses the Ogallala aquifer, and critics charge that the “official” border of the Sandhills is a pretty meaningless distinction, because the surrounding area is similar geologically. In other words: new route, same risks.

Double Trouble in the Boreal Forest

Sandhill cranes mate for life (photo: Matthew Paulson)

Stretching across the northern reaches of our continent, this ecosystem is one of the most important you’ve (probably) never heard of, not just for its striking range of biodiversity but also for the crucial role it plays in regulating our climate: globally, boreal forests — almost a third of which are in Canada — store more carbon than any other biome.

Calling it simply a forest is a little misleading, though — the region also includes vast wetlands like the delta of the Peace and Athabasca rivers in northeastern Alberta, a favorite nesting area for sandhill cranes and hundreds of other species. But danger is on the horizon: just to the south of this vibrant delta, the oil industry is building the biggest industrial project in our planet’s history.

Big Oil’s wholesale demolition of the boreal forest is well-documented but mostly overlooked outside of Canada. (It’s worth checking out these photos to get a sense of the scale and what we’re fighting to protect.) Taken together, habitat loss, catastrophic spills, and climate change pose an enormous risk to sandhill cranes, caribou, wolves and other wildlife, and pipelines like Keystone XL are the key to the whole system. Thanks to a grassroots uprising we’ve halted this project so far, but we need your help to hold the line against tar sands.

Speak up now and tell your member of Congress to say NO to Keystone XL and other destructive projects. Our planet deserves better.

This is a guest post by Sara Gosman, a water resources attorney for National Wildlife Federation. 

On July 25th, 2010, the Great Lakes region experienced one of the largest oil spills in Midwest history—and it was from a pipeline buried underneath the ground.

Almost two years after the spill, the pressing question is whether laws governing oil pipelines protect the Great Lakes Basin and its communities from more spills. In a legal analysis I authored with University of Michigan Law students, “After the Marshall Spill: Oil Pipelines in the Great Lakes Region,” we conclude that federal laws are inadequate, and states have not passed their own laws to fill in the gaps.

The report analyzes federal and state laws in three areas: routing of new pipelines; operation and maintenance of existing pipelines; and spill response planning and reporting.

State vs. Federal Pipeline Safety

First, we look at where oil pipelines go—the laws on routing of pipelines. We find that there is no federal review of the long-term risks associated with routing, or federal consideration of the cumulative impact of pipelines on entire watersheds such as the Great Lakes Basin. And we find that only three Great Lakes states—Michigan, Minnesota, and Illinois—regulate oil pipeline routes. Of these, only Minnesota and Illinois consider a range of environmental factors.

Second, we look at what happens when oil pipelines are in the ground—the laws on maintaining and repairing pipelines. We find that the federal risk management program for pipelines (the Integrity Management program) does not cover all environmentally sensitive areas, only those that are considered to be of “high consequence.” Our report webpage has an interesting map that shows recent spills in southeastern Michigan and the location of environmentally sensitive areas. States can only regulate the safety of intrastate oil pipelines—those pipelines that are solely within the state and do not affect interstate commerce. Only Indiana, Minnesota, and New York have programs to regulate intrastate oil pipelines, but these states have adopted the federal standards.

Third, we look at oil pipeline spills—the laws on planning for spills and reporting them if they happen. We find that federal pipeline spill response plans may not address all environmentally sensitive areas because oversight is divided between several federal agencies. Until this year, when Congress directed that spills be reported within an hour, the only specific time limit for reporting was 30 days after discovery of the spill. No Great Lakes states require spill response plans from pipeline operators. We also find that two states—Illinois and Michigan—exempt pipelines from reporting oil spills.

Throughout, we find that public involvement in federal regulation of oil pipelines is limited, as is public access to information. The situation at the state level is no better.

Improving Pipeline Regulations

Based on these findings, our report offers recommendations to improve the regulatory framework governing pipelines. For example, we suggest that:

• The framework should consider the effects of oil pipelines on the Great Lakes Basin as a whole.
• Pipeline safety regulations should protect all areas that are environmentally sensitive to oil pollution, not just high consequence areas.
• Pipeline information should be publicly available, consistent with national security interests.
• States should regulate intrastate pipelines and participate in the oversight and inspection of interstate pipelines.

There is an old adage—out of sight, out of mind. Oil pipelines are out of sight, but that doesn’t mean the risks of these pipelines should be out of mind. The best way to mind these risks is to ensure that federal and state law is fully protective of the environment and the communities that depend on it.

I want to thank the Michigan Law students who worked with me on the report and the Environmental Law and Policy Program (ELPP) at the University of Michigan Law School for its support of the research project. I moderated a panel discussion on oil pipeline safety at the Law School on April 3, 2012, which was sponsored by ELPP, the University of Michigan Environmental Law Society; and the Michigan Energy Law Association.