You are viewing news tagged as 'wildlife'

Exxon Mobil challenges Yellowstone River spill fines

May 17, 2013

Exxon Mobil Corp. is challenging $1.7 million in penalties for a 63,000-gallon crude oil spill in the Yellowstone River, according to documents.

The penalties were proposed by the Transportation Department's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which cited bad decisions...

Wind farms escape punishment for eagle deaths

May 17, 2013

Under the Obama administration, wind farms have never faced prosecution or fines for the deaths of eagles and other protected bird species.

While the administration has used bird deaths to prosecute oil companies and traditional power companies, wind companies have never faced penalties...

ENR panel to mark up roughly 30 bills promoting wilderness, O&G

May 15, 2013

A Senate committee Thursday will seek to advance roughly 30 lands bills, including measures to designate wilderness in Nevada and New Mexico, swap tens of thousands of acres of gas-rich lands in Utah, and designate a national historic park in Rhode Island.

The Energy and Natural Resources...

Wind farms won't be prosecuted for condor deaths, says USFWS

May 15, 2013

The Fish and Wildlife Service on Friday said the operators of wind farms in the Tehachapi Mountains will not be charged if their turbines kill protected condors.

The announcement drew anger from environmentalists, who said the move undermines the California condor program.

The...

Company proposes mitigation project in Wyo.

May 15, 2013

The plan for a 600,000-acre mitigation bank in Wyoming would benefit environmentalists, the state and energy developers, according to the men behind the idea.

The idea would allow companies to conserve land before they develop elsewhere. The current proposal involves a restoration project...

Feds work to remove protections from northern Rockies grizzlies

May 14, 2013

Grizzly bears lack a reputation as a rule-following animal, but they sure inspire a lot of rule-making. The bears of the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem have a draft 158-page rulebook up for public comment this summer as they move toward possible removal from federal Endangered Species Act...

Carbon milestone a reminder of things to come

May 13, 2013

The Earth's atmospheric carbon dioxide levels passed an ominous milestone yesterday when a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration observatory on the Big Island in Hawaii registered 400 parts per million for the first time.

It's a concentration of CO2 that has not existed in the...

BLM pressed in committee on fire, sage grouse and grazing

May 10, 2013

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), who holds the reins in the House over Interior Department spending, urged the Bureau of Land Management yesterday to boost its focus on wildfire management as a means of protecting the imperiled sage grouse.

Republicans like Simpson have long called on the...

New Interior secretary waiting for study on wild horses

May 9, 2013

New Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said Tuesday that she is still undecided about how to handle a burgeoning wild horse and burro population that is eating more than half the horse budget at the BLM and sparking outrage among wild horse advocates.

Jewell said in an interview with The...

Protections for wolverines draw Western states’ opposition

May 8, 2013

State officials in the Northern Rockies on Monday lined up against a federal proposal to give new protections to the carnivorous wolverine, as climate change threatens to melt the species' snowy mountain strongholds.

A pending U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal would declare the rare...

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