Bush/Cheney
Administration Puts Hundreds of Yellowstone Area Wolves at Risk
www.savewolves.org
While most Americans have been
celebrating the holidays, officials in the Bush/Cheney
Administration have been working behind the scenes to pave the way
for the killing of hundreds of wolves in the Greater
Yellowstone area.
Don’t let them get away with it! Urge U.S. Interior
Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to abandon his efforts to allow states to
start killing wolves and stop promoting the premature de-listing of
gray wolves in the Northern Rockies.
Over the last several weeks, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has
been quietly moving forward with rule changes that would allow
officials in Idaho and Wyoming to begin killing wolves
even before gray wolves are removed from the list of
federally protected threatened and endangered species.
This latest proposal would jump start plans to use
fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and other means to kill hundreds of
wolves in Idaho, leaving only a few more than 200 wolves in the
state. In fact, three-quarters of the wolves in the Lolo
District of the Clearwater National Forest could be removed… even
before they are de-listed.
And, unfortunately, it’s not just Idaho’s wolves that are threatened
by the proposal. Hundreds of wolves in Wyoming could be shot and
trapped under the new rules -- whether wolves are removed from the
endangered and threatened species list or not.
A decision on the proposal is expected in the next few
weeks. Please email Secretary Kempthorne right now and let him know
that you oppose any proposal that would threaten the long-term
future of wolves in the Northern Rockies and Greater Yellowstone
Region.
And the outlook for Wyoming wolves won’t improve any if, as
expected, the Bush/Cheney Administration eliminates Endangered
Species Act protections for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies
early next year.
On December 14th, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officially
approved the State of Wyoming’s wolf management plan,
allowing state officials to use aerial gunning and snares to shoot
and trap as many as two-thirds of the wolves in the state.
Just last week, Congressman Nick Rahall (D-WV), Wayne Gilchrest
(R-MD), George Miller (D-CA), Jim Saxton (R-NJ) and Norm Dicks
(D-WA) warned in a letter to Secretary Kempthorne that de-listing
wolves in the Northern Rockies now is a mistake.
In the letter, this bipartisan group of lawmakers cited grave
concerns with the state wolf management plans approved by the
Bush/Cheney Administration and their potential impact on the future
of wolves in the region.
Take a stand now. Send Secretary Kempthorne a message now
and let him know that you’re outraged by the Bush/Cheney
Administration’s actions and that you want a sustainable future for
wolves in the region.
Defenders is mustering our resources to fight these terrible
proposals in the weeks ahead. But right now, we need you to
speak out for wolves with your message.
Greens Unite in
Rejecting Nukes as Climate Solution
by
Roddy Scheer, emagazine.com
More than 500 organizations from the
U.S. and abroad, including some of the world’s largest and most
influential environmental organizations, have signed a joint
statement explicitly rejecting “the construction of new nuclear
reactors as a means of addressing the climate crisis.” Greenpeace,
Friends of the Earth International, Sierra Club, Clean Water Action,
and Rainforest Action Network and a few of the many environmental
groups that have signed on, along with major peace groups like Code
Pink, Peace Action, and Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, and hundreds
of grassroots environmental, sustainable energy, religious, peace
and other groups and businesses large and small from 46 states and
38 countries on six continents. 5900 individuals also have signed
the statement, and more are signing every day.
Beyond rejecting nuclear power as the answer, the statement also
embraces renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies as
“faster, cheaper, safer and cleaner strategies for reducing
greenhouse emissions...”
Click
here
for the rest of the story.
by Christine Dell'Amore, National
Geographic News
Antarctica is not a barren polar
desert but a rich, complex environment that may contain a thriving
"oasis of life," experts say.
Researchers have uncovered a complex subglacial system miles under
the ice where rivers larger than the Amazon link a series of "lake
districts," which may teem with mineral-hungry microbes.
This watery environment may be more than one-and-a-half times the
size of the United States, scientists say, which would make it the
world's largest wetland...
Click
here
for the rest of the story.
Bush to California:
Drop Dead
by Jim Motavalli, emagazine.com
After keeping the state in suspense
for months, the Bush administration finally did what was expected
and denied California the right to set its own rules for carbon
dioxide emissions from cars and trucks. The December 19 ruling from
Environmental Protection Administrator Stephen L. Johnson denied not
only California, but the 16 states that follow its lead, the
opportunity to dramatically reduce carbon emissions and respond to
the reality of global warming.
“The Bush Administration is moving forward with a clear national
solution, not a confusing patchwork of state rules,” Johnson said in
a conference call with reporters. But Clean Air Watch’s Frank
O’Donnell points out that the notion of a “confusing patchwork” is
“baloney.” He says: “Johnson is implying (as the car companies have
in their misleading rhetoric) that there are lots of different state
standards. This is false. There is only the California standard,
which other states by law can adopt.” These 17 states represent half
the population...
Click
here
for the rest of the story.
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