Arctic fox
Center for     Biological     Diversity   

Lawsuit No. 15 Targets Trump's Order on Arctic Drilling

The Center for Biological Diversity joined other conservation groups and Alaska Native allies this week in suing President Donald Trump for rescinding a ban on new offshore oil drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans.

Trump's April 28 executive order -- which could hand over nearly 125 million acres of Arctic Ocean to oil companies -- violates federal law and threatens endangered whales, polar bears and our climate, the lawsuit notes.

"Trump's attempt to let the petroleum industry suck oil out of every last corner of our oceans is reckless and unlawful," said the Center's Kristen Monsell. "We're taking him to court to stop this assault on our oceans and make sure Arctic waters and the Atlantic stay off limits to dirty, dangerous drilling."

This is our 15th lawsuit against Trump since he took office. Read more in The New York Times and consider giving to the Trump Resistance Fund.

Gray wolf

Victory -- Thank You for Standing Up for Wildlife, Public Lands

The Center celebrated a win on Monday when Congress passed the budget bill funding our government for the rest of 2017. Nearly none of the almost 160 anti-environment policy riders attached to the legislation passed into the final bill.

That means, for now, wolves in the Great Lakes are safe from hunting and trapping. Our deep thanks to all of you who took action and demanded that your representatives not sell out our country's wildlife. Without you calling Congress, flooding town halls and attending in-district meetings with our staff, we couldn't have kept off these legislative attacks.

The Center will fight any attack in the 2018 budget bill just as hard, and we hope you'll join us again. Get more from Bloomberg.

One Day, Two Lawsuits Against EPA's Pruitt

Scott Pruitt

The Center sued the Environmental Protection Agency's Scott Pruitt twice on Wednesday. The first was a public-records lawsuit to force the agency to turn over Pruitt's emails and schedule -- a request made out of concern over his close ties to oil companies and other polluting industries.

The second suit targeted the failure of Pruitt's agency to finalize deadlines by which the District of Columbia and Philadelphia must meet 2008 clear-air standards to control smog, which poses serious threats to public health, wildlife and ecosystems. Read more about our public records and clean air suits.

Polar bear

Win: High Court Won't Hear Big Oil's Attack on Polar Bears

In an important victory for Arctic wildlife, the U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it will not consider arguments from oil and gas companies, the state of Alaska, and others to reverse a 9th Circuit decision and strike down critical habitat protections for polar bears.

The upheld 2010 critical habitat designation -- which came as a result of groundbreaking legal work by the Center and allies -- was the largest made in the history of the Endangered Species Act, at 120 million acres.

This victory helps ensure that polar bears will keep the habitat protections they need for a shot at surviving a rapidly warming world.

Read more in our press release.

Thousands Turn Out for Climate Marches Nationwide

Peoples Climate March

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Washington, D.C.'s Peoples Climate March and its sister marches all across the country last weekend, coming together to bring awareness to climate change. Center staff and supporters were out in force in D.C., Tucson, Oakland, Portland and other cities.

Big thanks to all of you who came out. It was a powerful day of action, resistance and hope.

Check out this photo gallery from events around the country.

Jaguar naming at Hiaki High School

Pascua Yaqui Students Name Arizona Jaguar 'Yo'oko'

Arizona's newest jaguar has a name: Students at Hiaki High School, on the Pascua Yaqui Reservation, last week announced Yo'oko Nahsuareo as the name for the wild jaguar recently photographed in the Huachuca Mountains, 90 miles southeast of the reservation.

The name translates to "Jaguar Warrior." Yo'oko is the Yaqui word for jaguar, so the name is a nod to the big cat's revered place in cross-border indigenous cultures in the Southwest. Students at the school, which provides Yaqui cultural studies and language courses, cast votes for their favorite names over the past few weeks and received instruction on jaguar biology and natural history.

"Yo'oko is another feline pioneer, like the famous jaguar El Jefe, who lived in the Santa Rita Mountains for several years," said the Center's Randy Serraglio.

Watch our video on Facebook or YouTube.

Fight Trump's EPA Rollback -- Take Action

Smokestack

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is under attack as it's never been before. Trump and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt have put together a task force to "alleviate regulatory burdens." What that really means is gutting environmental safeguards critical to protecting our clean air and water and reducing pollution. The rollbacks will make more people sick, kill more wildlife, and tear apart the safety net that has helped keep us safe for almost half a century.

Speak out to resist this dangerous scheme to roll back these important environmental protections.

New York Proposes End to Commercial Harvest of Terrapins

Diamond terrapin

Following Center advocacy, New York state has proposed a rule to stop all harvest of diamondback terrapins, the only North American turtles living exclusively along coasts. If New York finalizes the rule, it will join nearly every other state in the terrapins' range in ending their commercial harvest -- a top threat to these little turtles, along with habitat loss, sea-level rise and more.

Said the Center's Elise Bennett, "The deck is stacked against terrapins, but taking trapping off the table may give them a fighting chance." Read more in our press release.

Pelican

Op-ed by Mati Waiya: Don't Frack Off California's Coast

"Offshore fracking would offend our Chumash ancestors," begins an op-ed by Center board member Mati Waiya that ran in Sunday's Ventura County Star. "The outrageous proposal to extract more oil from under the Santa Barbara Channel by injecting high-pressure water and toxic chemicals to fracture the earth would baffle and sadden them."

Mati's op-ed argues against the Trump administration's plan to open federal waters off California to fracking by lifting an Obama-era moratorium. Among other offenses against the planet, fracking chemicals hurt marine species that are important to Chumash culture, writes Mati, "including our closest ocean relations, Alulkoy (dolphins), as well as swordfish, whales, otters, abalone, kelp and pelicans."

Read the op-ed.

White rhino

Wild & Weird: Want to Hook Up With a Rhino on Tinder?

For many millennials Tinder isn't just part of the dating scene -- it is the dating scene. Swiping right engages chatting and opens users up to a wide world of romance (or not… in some cases, it's a wide world of creeps).

But there's at least one gentleman on Tinder who's worth his weight in swipes: Sudan, the last male northern white rhino in the world.

Sudan needs a mate for his species to continue, so the Ol Pejeta Conservancy has partnered with Tinder to raise money for a breeding campaign, including the development of in vitro fertilization technologies. Tinder users around the world can now swipe right on Sudan's photo and be taken to a donation page to help out the most eligible (and horny!) bachelor around.

Read more at LiveScience.

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Photo credits: Arctic fox by wcdumonts/Flickr; gray wolf by Gary Kramer/USFWS; Scott Pruitt by Gage Skidmore/Flickr; polar bear by Alan D. Wilson/Nature's Pics Online; People's Climate March in D.C. courtesy Center for Biological Diversity; jaguar naming at Hiaki High School; smokestack by Señor Codo/Flickr; diamondback terrapin by bufflehead/Flickr; pelican by spindlewest/Flickr; white rhino by plucciola/Flickr.

Center for Biological Diversity
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