No. 313, August 7, 2002


  • JUDGE ORDERS COMPLIANCE WITH ALT FUELS LAW PASSED AFTER THE GULF WAR, WHICH CALLS FOR THE U.S. GOVERNMENT TO BUY HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF ALTERNATIVE FUELS CARS AND TRUCKS

  • CARSON WANDERING SKIPPER BUTTERFLY LISTED AS ENDANGERED

  • FEDS AGREE PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND ORCAS AND HERRING HAVE NOT RECOVERED FROM EXXON VALDEZ OIL SPILL

  • FEDS ASKED TO CORRECT TAXONOMY OF IMPERILED PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND ORCAS

  • BUSH ADMINISTRATION DECLARES EXTINCTION OF PUGET SOUND ORCAS IS "INSIGNIFICANT"- LEGAL CHALLENGE IMMINENT


JUDGE ORDERS COMPLIANCE WITH ALT FUELS LAW PASSED AFTER THE GULF WAR, WHICH CALLS FOR THE U.S. GOVERNMENT TO BUY HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF ALTERNATIVE FUELS CARS AND TRUCKS

In response to a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity, Bluewater Network, and the Sierra Club, a federal judge has ruled that nearly every cabinet level agency in the U.S. government has violated the Energy Policy Act of 1992 by failing to convert federal car fleets to alternative fuel vehicles.

The Energy Policy Act was signed into law after the Gulf War by George Bush Sr., who declared "My action today will place America upon a clear path toward a more prosperous, energy efficient, environmentally sensitive, and economically secure future." It was designed to divert 10% of American transportation fuel demand from petroleum by the year 2000, and 30% by the 2010. If fully implemented, the law would have vastly decreased U.S. reliance on fossil fuels, eliminated the excuse to develop new oil fields and pipelines in wildlife areas such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, reduced air pollution, and weaned the nation from unstable foreign fossil fuel sources. Currently the U.S. buys more than a half-million barrels of oil a day from Iraq.

With over 600,000 vehicles in its fleet, the U.S. government is the largest car purchaser in the nation and thus has enormous influence over Detroit's design, production, sales and costs trends. If the U.S. were to convert most of its fleet to alternative fuels vehicles, national use of polluting fossil fuels would immediately decrease, and car manufacturers would start producing many more and much cheaper alternative fuel vehicles. For this reason, the Energy Policy Act required that 75% of all light-duty cars and trucks purchased by federal agencies in major metropolitan areas be alternative fuels vehicles rather than traditional petroleum-fueled cars and trucks.

Most agencies, however, have continued to purchase traditional gas guzzling vehicles. The Department of Commerce, for example, purchased only 17% alternative fuel vehicles in 2000, while the EPA purchased only 35% alternative fuel vehicles in 1998. The agencies found guilty of violating the Energy Policy Act include the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Interior, Transportation, Agriculture, Justice, Labor, State, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs, the General Services Administration, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, and NASA.

Judge Alsup also found that many federal agencies failed to publish public reports on their compliance with the Energy Policy Act. He ordered the government to prepare overdue reports by 11-26-02, and to make these reports available to the public over the Internet by 1-31-03. In these compliance reports, federal agencies must not only admit prior failings to acquire alternative fuel vehicles, they must submit a specific plan, including dates, by which they will come into compliance with the law.

Finally, the Energy Policy Act required the Department of Energy to consider a regulation to extend the alternative fuels vehicle acquisition requirements to private and municipal fleets in major metropolitan areas. It failed to do this as well. Judge Alsup ordered both sides to submit further briefing on how long the court should give the Department of Energy to take action on the overdue regulation.

The case was filed on 1-22-02 by Jay Tutchton of Earthjustice (Denver).


CARSON WANDERING SKIPPER BUTTERFLY LISTED AS ENDANGERED

In keeping with a legal agreement reached with the Center for Biological Diversity, the California Native Plant Society and the Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service listed the Carson wandering skipper butterfly as an endangered species on 8-7-02. The species was listed on a temporary, emergency basis in November 2001.

The beautiful butterfly is found only in Washoe County, NV where five individuals were located in 2001, and in adjacent Lassen County, CA, where just "a few" individuals were seen. It is susceptible to immediate extinction due to cattle grazing, wetland degradation, water pumping, urban sprawl, and invasive non-native plants.

A petition to list the skipper as an endangered species was filed by the Xerces Society on 11-10-00, but the Wildlife Service refused to accept the petition because of an illegal policy banning citizen petitions for species already on the Service's "candidate" list. Like hundreds of other imperiled species, the skipper had been on the federal "candidate list" since 1984 without being protected.

For more information on the wandering skipper and the other 28 species involved in the species protection agreement, click here.


FEDS AGREE PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND ORCAS AND HERRING HAVE NOT RECOVERED FROM EXXON VALDEZ OIL SPILL

In response to requests from the Center for Biological Diversity and other Alaska conservation groups, the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council voted on 8-6-02 to not elevate the status of the AB orca pod to "recovered," or the status of Pacific herring in Prince William Sound to "recovering."

Alaska's Prince William Sound is one of the world's richest marine and estuarine ecosystems. Thirteen years ago, in the nation's worst oil spill, the Exxon Valdez, dumped 11 million gallons of oil into the pristine Sound, killing sea otters, fish, birds, and members of the AB orca pod. In the aftermath of the tragedy, the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council was formed to track wildlife recovery efforts in the Sound. In June 2002, the Trustee Council proposed upgrading the status of the AB orca pod from a "recovering" to a "recovered" population. The Council also proposed to move Pacific herring, a cornerstone of the Sound's ecosystem health, from a "not recovering" status to a "recovering" one.

The AB pod is one of eight resident killer whale pods found in Prince William Sound. In the aftermath of the oil spill it suffered a 27% decline, bringing the population down to only 26 whales. In 1994, the Prince William Sound Pacific herring population experienced an unprecedented crash when only 25% of expected adults returned to the Sound. Since that time the herring population has yet to recruit a highly successful year class, a fundamental sign of recovery for this species.

To find out more about the Center's orca protection campaigns, click here.


FEDS ASKED TO CORRECT TAXONOMY OF IMPERILED PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND ORCAS

The Center for Biological Diversity, the National Wildlife Federation, Alaska Center for the Environment, Alaska Community Action on Toxics, Coastal Coalition, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Eyak Preservation Council have asked the National Marine Fisheries Service to revise its taxonomy of killer whales in Alaska in order to increase federal protection for endangered orca populations.

Recent scientific information has proven that the orca, once thought to be a single, globally distributed species, is comprised of many genetically distinct and socially isolated populations. Some of these populations are so distinct that they will soon be classified as distinct species or subspecies.

However, the Fisheries Service continues to classify transient killer in the Pacific as one large population. This classification masks the fact that the AT1 population of orcas in Prince William Sound is going extinct. The AT1 population, a genetically distinct and isolated population of killer whales, was nearly extirpated by the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Only nine individuals remain.

To find out more about the Center's orca protection campaigns, click here.


BUSH ADMINISTRATION DECLARES EXTINCTION OF PUGET SOUND ORCAS IS "INSIGNIFICANT"- LEGAL CHALLENGE IMMINENT

Setting a new low point in the history of the endangered species conservation, the Bush administration declared on 7-1-02 that the Puget Sound population of orcas is going extinct, but should not be protected under the Endangered Species Act because its extinction is "not significant". This is the first time in the history of the Endangered Species Act that a presidential administration has OKed the extinction of a plant or animal. The decision came in response to a petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and others in May 2001.

A coalition of environmental groups led by the Center for Biological Diversity filed a formal notice of intent to sue the National Marine Fisheries Service on 8-6-02 over the decision. Other groups joining the notice include Ocean Advocates, Orca Conservancy, Friends of the San Juans, People for Puget Sound, Project SeaWolf, former Secretary of State Ralph Munro, Karen Munro, and Earth Island Institute. The groups will be represented by Brent Plater of the Center for Biological Diversity (Berkeley) and Patty Goldman of Earthjustice (Seattle).

For more information on the lawsuit, click here.


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