No. 374, November 16, 2006

  COMEBACK KID #5: CALIFORNIA BROWN PELICAN SOARS PAST RECOVERY GOAL
   
  U.S.G.S: GLOBAL WARMING HARMING CANADA POLAR BEARS
   
  U.S.G.S: GLOBAL WARMING HARMING ALASKA POLAR BEARS
   
  WHITE HOUSE SUED FOR SUPPRESSING GLOBAL WARMING REPORT
   
  KERRY BACKS GLOBAL WARMING SUIT
   
  DING DONG, THE WITCH IS DEAD
   
  A HEARTFELT THANKS TO LINCOLN CHAFEE
   
  OCTOBER DEATH TOLL DISASTROUS IN IRAQ
   
  RUMSFELD TO FACE HUMAN RIGHTS PROSECUTION

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COMEBACK KID #5: CALIFORNIA BROWN PELICAN SOARS PAST RECOVERY GOAL

Having exceeded its recovery goal by 300 percent, the California brown pelican is likely to be one of the next species removed from the federal endangered species list. DDT poisoning and habitat loss caused the number of California nests to decline to just 466 in 1974. The pelican’s numbers began increasing in 1979 and reached 9,000 nests in 2006. The California recovery goal is 3,000 nests. The overall population, including the much larger Mexican population, is about 150,000 nests. The San Diego Union Tribune covered the pelican's recovery with a link to the Center's ESASuccess.org Web site.


U.S.G.S: GLOBAL WARMING HARMING CANADA POLAR BEARS

U.S. Geological Survey and Canadian Wildlife Service scientists have for the first time developed "evidence for a direct linkage between reduced sea ice coverage, presumably caused by climate change, and decreased polar bear survival in western Hudson Bay." The population has declined by 22 percent (from 1,194 to 935) between 1987 and 2004. Hudson Bay is at the southern edge of the polar bear's range and especially susceptible to early impacts from global warming. It is feared that the declines measured there will eventually occur in more northern areas as global warming progresses.


U.S.G.S.: GLOBAL WARMING HARMING ALASKA POLAR BEARS

In a just released report, Polar Bear Population Status in the Southern Beaufort Sea, the U.S. Geological Survey concludes that the survival rate of polar bear cubs declined after "the winter of 1989–90, when warming temperatures and altered atmospheric circulation caused an abrupt change in sea ice conditions in the Arctic basin." Fewer cubs lived past six months. Adult males were smaller after 1990 than before, probably due to lack of food caused by declining sea ice. Though data are lacking to determine if the population size has declined, the U.S.G.S. warned that the sharp decline in the more southerly  Hudson Bay population was preceded by similar declines in cub survival and size of adult bears.


WHITE HOUSE SUED FOR SUPPRESSING GLOBAL WARMING REPORT

On Nov. 14, 2006, the Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth sued the Bush administration for refusing to complete a National Assessment of the impact of global warming on the environment, economy, human health and human safety of the United States. The assessment, due in November 2004, is required by the Global Change Research Act of 1990. Rick Piltz, former senior associate with the administration's Climate Change Science Program, resigned in March 2005, declaring that the White House’s suppression of the 2000 assessment and refusal to produce a 2004 assessment comprise "the central climate science scandal of the Bush administration."

The administration’s refusal to complete the assessment has been sharply criticized by the Government Accountability Office; Michael MacCracken, Ph.D., former director of the U.S. Global Climate Change Research Program and one of the authors of the 2000 National Assessment; and Rosina Bierbaum, former acting director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, which oversaw the production of the 2000 National Assessment.


KERRY BACKS GLOBAL WARMING SUIT

On Nov. 14, 2006, Sen. John Kerry, D.-Mass., issued a statement supporting the Center for Biological Diversity's suit against the Bush administration's refusal to complete a National Assessment of the impacts of global warming. According to Kerry, "It's the right time to push Washington to grapple with this issue. We can't respond to climate change if we can't make the government comply with the laws already on the books. This lawsuit sends an important message not just to follow the Global Change Research Act, but also to pass legislation imposing mandatory and substantial cuts in our greenhouse gas emissions. Let's get serious."


DING DONG, THE WICKED WITCH IS DEAD

The most extraordinary Republican loss on November 7 was the unseating of Rep. Richard Pombo, R.-Calif., by windpower consultant Jerry McNerney. The common wisdom that environmental issues don't influence elections was exploded when environmental groups spent more than a million and a half dollars pounding Pombo for his industry pandering, anti-endangered species efforts. Pombo watched helplessly as his traditionally safe seat slipped away after voters learned of his attacks on the Endangered Species Act and our national parks. Special thanks to Defenders of Wildlife Action, Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters, The Humane Society, and our own Brent Plater, former Center staff attorney, who left his job to join the McNerney campaign.


A HEARTFELT THANKS TO LINCOLN CHAFEE

The saddest Republican loss of November 7 was the unseating of Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R.-R.I. Chafee, like his father before him, was a vigorous environmental defender. Using his chairmanship of the Fisheries, Wildlife and Water subcommittee, Chafee blocked passage of Bush's disastrous "clear skies" initiative and stopped Rep. Pombo's horrific bill to gut the Endangered Species Act. Chafee was also the only Republican to vote against the Iraq war. He will be missed. See his New York Times editorial (Holding the Center, Losing My Seat) blasting Bush and Cheney for party leadership that caused progressive Republicans to lose their seats.


OCTOBER DEATH TOLL DISASTROUS IN IRAQ

As the Iraq war continues to escalate, 105  U.S. soldiers were killed in October, the highest number of casualties since 107 U.S. soldiers were killed in January 2005.


RUMSFELD TO FACE HUMAN RIGHTS PROSECUTION

Eleven former prisoners of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib have filed a war crimes suit against former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in a German court. They claim to have been tortured. German law permits the filing of legal actions for war crimes regardless of where in the world they are alleged to have taken place. A German prosecutor will have to decide whether sufficient evidence exists to pursue prosecution. A key witness for the former prisoners is former commander of U.S. prisons in Iraq, Brig. General Janis Karpinski, who alleges she was made a scapegoat for the Abu Ghraib scandal in order to protect senior officials.


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