No. 377, December 14, 2006

  COMEBACK KID #8: BAYOU DARTER
   
 

DID GLOBAL WARMING KILL THE COZUMEL THRASHER?

   
 

YAVAPAI-APACHE CAUTION AGAINST DELISTING ARIZONA BALD EAGLE

   
 

BUSH "STREAMLINING": MORE LEAD, FEWER SCIENTISTS

   
 

ENDANGERED SPECIES – INTEGRITY: 1, DEVELOPERS: 0

   
 

BATTLE BREWING OVER GILA RIVER WATER DIVERSION

   
 

PROOF OF SCIENCE SQUASHING ASKED FOR, GIVEN

   
 

YOUR YEAR-END GIFT WILL BE WORTH TWICE AS MUCH

   
 

BONNIE RAITT BENEFIT IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA DEC. 30

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COMEBACK KID #8: BAYOU DARTER

The Bayou Darter is endemic to Bayou Pierre and the lower reaches of the White Oak Creek, Foster Creek, and Turkey Creek basins in Mississippi. It was placed on the endangered species list in 1975 due to degradation of its stream and streamside habitat. Since then – thanks to improved habitat management – its range has expanded by more than 25 kilometers in Bayou Pierre.


DID GLOBAL WARMING KILL THE COZUMEL THRASHER?

The Cozumel Thrasher is a beautiful bird occurring only on Cozumel Island 12 miles off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Its natural population may have been as high as 10,000 birds. It was common up to a few decades ago but collapsed precipitously due to the introduction of boa constrictors and a rapid series of forest destroying hurricanes. Hurricane Gilbert hit the island in 1988, followed by Hurricane Roxanne in 1995, and Hurricanes Emily and Wilma in 2005. The Cozumel Thrasher has been seen rarely and captured just once since 1988. A research team sponsored by the American Bird Conservancy was unable to find any birds in 2006. While it's too early to declare the thrasher extinct, an increase in Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico hurricanes due to global warming may spell its end.


YAVAPAI-APACHE CAUTION AGAINST DELISTING ARIZONA BALD EAGLE

On Dec. 4, the Yavapai-Apache Nation cautioned the Arizona Game and Fish Department that while the Bald Eagle has "made a strong comeback in recent years," the effort to remove it from the federal endangered species list is being unduly rushed. The Center for Biological Diversity, while supporting the delisting of the eagle in the rest of the continental United States, opposes the delisting of the Arizona population which has a breeding population of just 39 pairs. The delisting is also opposed by the scientific panel that peer-reviewed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service national delisting proposal and by the former head of the multi-agency Arizona Bald Eagle recovery team.


BUSH "STREAMLINING": MORE LEAD, FEWER SCIENTISTS

Scientific American reports that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is mulling over a proposal to remove lead from its list of regulated toxic substances. A Dec. 5 agency memo makes the bizarre argument that lead should be delisted because its listing has successfully reduced lead concentrations by 90 percent between 1980 and 2005. By this reasoning, we should stop doing heart surgery because heart attack deaths are down.

The EPA began consideration of delisting upon receiving a July letter from Battery Council International urging the agency to "delete lead from the criteria pollutants." The battery industry is one the leading emitters of lead.

Since the proposal would never pass scientific muster, the EPA first had to squash those pesky scientists. The New York Times reports that for the past 25 years, the EPA has relied on a three-step process. First, agency scientists developed a proposal for regulating toxic substances.  Then, outside scientists on the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee reviewed the proposal.  Then the proposal went to agency bureaucrats, who developed a final proposal and sent it out for public comment. Under the new plan, the initial proposal will be developed by political appointees working with staff scientists to produce a synopsis of "policy-relevant" science. And those outside reviewers on the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee?  They can stand in line with the petroleum industry and your next-door neighbor to comment on the plant. The new procedure, by the way, was suggested by the American Petroleum Industry.

The head of the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee complained of being cut out of the development loop, but also proclaimed – oh well – "they weren't taking our advice" anyway. Apparently not: The Bush administration recently refused the Committee's proposal to reduce the amount of airborne soot.


ENDANGERED SPECIES – INTEGRITY: 1, DEVELOPERS: 0

Following the advice of scientists and the Center for Biological Diversity, the Western Riverside County Regional Conservation Authority voted on Dec. 4 to reject a proposal by developers to eliminate a vital preserve for the Quino Checkerspot Butterfly and California Gnatcatcher, two of the most endangered species in the region.

Riverside County officials asked Michael Allen, Ph.D., of the University of California-Riverside Center for Conservation Biology to assemble a panel of experts to assess environmental conditions in the core wildlife area. The panel recommended protection of the area because of its unique ecological conditions found nowhere else in the region.


BATTLE BREWING OVER GILA RIVER WATER DIVERSION

The Center for Biological Diversity has vowed to oppose a proposal to transfer water from the Gila River – New Mexico's last free-flowing river – to fuel urban sprawl in Las Cruces, N.M. and El Paso, Texas. Neither city is even within the Gila River Basin.


PROOF OF SCIENCE SQUASHING ASKED FOR, GIVEN

Following a Washington Post expose on her overturning of decisions by agency scientists, political appointee Julie MacDonald challenged environmental groups in the Denver Rocky Mountain News to "come up with a document that shows" her interference.  The always obliging Noah Greenwald, conservation biologist for the Center for Biological Diversity, has published an essay in the Rocky Mountain News quoting from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service e-mails in which MacDonald orders decision-makers to ignore recommendations of agency scientists to add the Gunnison's and White-tailed Prairie Dogs to the endangered species list.

MacDonald and her minions also squashed scientist recommendations to protect Gunnison Sage-Grouse, California Tiger Salamander, Roundtail Chub, Mexican Garter Snake and a Mariana Islands plant. Democrats have pledged to hold hearings on MacDonald's exploits and the broader pattern of Bush administration interference with Endangered Species Act science.


YOUR YEAR-END GIFT WILL PACK DOUBLE THE PUNCH

If the Center can raise $200,000 for its Endangered Species Act Works! campaign by the end of the year, two generous donors have agreed to contribute another $200,000. So every dollar you contribute will mean two dollars to the Center. We've raised $140,000 so far. We need to raise $60,000 more by New Year's Eve – make your gift today.

The Endangered Species Act Works! campaign is determining recovery trends for endangered species, promoting recovery actions to save them and get them off the endangered species list, and sending the message to decision-makers that the ESA Works!


BONNIE RAITT BENEFIT IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA DEC. 30
MEET BONNIE AND DOUBLE YOUR CONTRIBUTION

Singer, songwriter and activist Bonnie Raitt has donated a limited number of fantastic tickets to an upcoming concert to benefit the Center for Biological Diversity.

The concert is at the Pechanga Resort and Casino near Temecula, Calif. Dec. 30 with special guest Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen. Special orchestra platinum seating includes a backstage reception with Bonnie and Center for Biological Diversity staff after the show. Preferred Golden Circle seating is also available.

The sale of premium tickets will help support the Center for Biological Diversity as part of our Endangered Species Act Works! Matching Challenge Grant campaign.  This grant will match individual contributions dollar-for-dollar up to $200,000.

To order tickets visit the Web site of The Guacamole Fund:  www.guacfund.org


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