Portland, Ore.—(ENEWSPF)—February 13, 2015. On behalf of a diverse national coalition, including conservation, commercial fishing and private property owners, the Western Environmental Law Center (WELC) and Sierra Club submitted comments today to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) opposing what would become the first gas export terminal on the West[Read More…]

Washington, D.C.—(ENEWSPF)–February 12, 2015. Today, the national advocacy organization Food & Water Watch urged the FDA to prevent the British biotechnology company Oxitec from releasing millions of unregulated GMO mosquitoes in the Florida Keys this spring and to require the company to submit to a formal agency review. GMO mosquitoes are[Read More…]

WASHINGTON—(ENEWSPF)–February 12, 2015—A new consultants’ report says the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan to cut climate-altering carbon pollution from power plants should pose no problems for maintaining the reliability of the electric grid. The report for the Advanced Energy Economy Institute by the highly respected Brattle Group, issued today, said[Read More…]

Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–February 12, 2015.  Oregon Senator Michael Dembrow (D-Portland) and Representative Ann Liniger (D-Lake Oswego) introduced a bill on Tuesday targeting the loosely regulated aerial pesticide spraying practices of the Oregon timber industry. The bill will establish residential, school, drinking water, and fish habitat buffers zones, require timely notification of[Read More…]

Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–February 11, 2015.  Recognizing that wildlife trafficking is an urgent conservation and national security threat, the Departments of Justice, State and the Interior today unveiled the implementation plan for the U.S. National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking.  The agencies are co-chairs of the president’s Task Force on Combating Wildlife[Read More…]

WASHINGTON, DC –(ENEWSPF)–February 10, 2015.  Oregon Senator’s Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden announced today that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBOR)will award $1 million  to jumpstart a major water infrastructure investment for Southern Oregon. Merkley, a newly-appointed member of the Senate Appropriations Water and Energy Subcommittee, and Wyden had previously[Read More…]

Groups seek details of Bureau’s approval of multiple exemptions from crude oil export ban A crude oil tanker ship in Europe. Kees Torn / Flickr Seattle, WA —(ENEWSPF)–February 10, 2015.  Earthjustice, Oil Change International, and Sightline Institute have submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the U.S. Department of[Read More…]

Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–February 10, 2015. President Obama is committed to addressing the impacts of climate change to protect future generations. As part of that effort, today, the Administration is launching a Clean Energy Investment Initiative and announcing a goal to catalyze $2 billion of expanded private sector investment in solutions to[Read More…]

Challenge flawed decision not to list imperiled river herring as a “threatened species” Blueback herring are now reduced to tiny remnant runs, due primarily to the impacts of dams and habitat destruction, overfishing, and water pollution. The commercial fishery has collapsed and a critical food source has gone missing from[Read More…]

Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–February 10, 2015.  Scientists at the Universities of Dundee and St. Andrews in Scotland have found evidence confirming that the levels of neonicotinoid (neonic) pesticides bees are likely to encounter in the wild impair the pollinator’s brain cells, resulting in colony declines. Bees and other wild pollinators provide services[Read More…]