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No. 1332, January 15, 2026 |
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A Trump Gift That Will Keep on Giving: 2 Poisons |
Some of the Trump administration’s attacks on clean water and air may prove to be reversible, writes Center for Biological Diversity scientist Nathan Donley in a new op-ed at The Hill. But some won’t — and they include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recent approval of two PFAS, or “forever chemicals”: cyclobutrifluram and isocycloseram.
The agency parroted industry claims that these pesticides are fine to use — for example, on golf courses and even crops like romaine lettuce, tomatoes, and oranges. But cyclobutrifluram breaks down into one of the world’s most pervasive contaminants, and isocycloseram has been linked to low sperm counts and liver toxicity. Besides hurting people for generations to come, these pollutants could hurt all sorts of vulnerable insects, from Karner blue butterflies to delta green ground beetles.
So today the Center sued over the isocycloseram approval.
Join our fight by taking action: Tell the EPA to stop approving dangerous PFAS. |
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Saving Right Whales From Speeding Ships |
Along with allies, the Center has filed a legal brief supporting a federal vessel speed limit rule that helps protect North Atlantic right whales, along with other whales, from being struck by ships. Since 2017 boats and ships have killed or injured at least 27 critically endangered North Atlantic right whales. And only about 70 reproductively active females survive.
The speed limit is being challenged in court by a Florida boat captain — represented by the right-wing Pacific Legal Foundation — who was fined under the rule in 2023.
“The speed limit has been in place for almost two decades and has no doubt saved right whales’ lives,” said the Center’s Kristen Monsell. “Each individual matters for the recovery of this species.”
Help us help whales with a gift to the Future for the Wild Fund. |
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We Intervene to Defend Endangered Nevada Toads |
Along with Tribal allies, the Center has requested to intervene in a court case brought by a geothermal company called Ormat that’s trying to strip Endangered Species Act protection from rare Dixie Valley toads.
These little amphibians live in a single hot-spring-fed wetland in Churchill County, Nevada. They received federal protection in 2022 after a Center petition and litigation. But they’re still threatened by Ormat’s proposed geothermal project, which is just outside their habitat and could dry up the springs they rely on. “It’s appalling that a geothermal energy company would thumb its nose at independent scientists,” said Patrick Donnelly, our Great Basin director. “This industry-backed lawsuit ignores what scientists have been clear about from the start. Ormat’s power plant puts the Dixie Valley toad in the crosshairs of extinction.” |
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Trump California Drilling, Fracking Plan Fails |
The Trump administration just announced plans to open more than 1 million acres of public lands to oil and gas drilling and fracking in the Golden State. The plan would let oil companies target landscapes right next to spectacular sites like Pinnacles National Park and Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve — and places home to all kinds of protected species, from San Joaquin kit foxes to California burrowing owls.
“Public lands are a refuge for human wonder and beautiful wildlife, not places for Trump’s oil and gas cronies to exploit and pollute,” said Center attorney Victoria Bogdan Tejeda. “We won’t let this administration get away with permanently destroying California public lands.” You can be part of the work — keep an eye on your inbox for a chance to take action. |
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New Dietary Guidelines Push Unhealthy Meat, Dairy |
This month the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Health and Human Services released their long-awaited 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. As the Center’s Leah Kelly explains in her latest blog post, the new guidelines reject science-based nutrition and endanger public health by over-promoting animal products like meat and dairy that are high in saturated fat. To support health and the environment, Leah says, we need diets higher in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and plant proteins like beans, peas, and lentils.
Read more in Leah’s post on Medium. Then follow Rooted in Policy, her monthly blog making the connections between policy, agrifood systems, and biodiversity. |
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The Revelator: Avoiding Despair |
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That's Wild: Peru Bees Granted Legal Personhood |
In a global legal first, two Peruvian municipalities have passed ordinances extending legal “personhood” rights to a whole class of bees, known as stingless bees, who are native to the Amazon and the oldest kinds of bees in the world. The decision means the bees have the right to exist and flourish through a wide swath of rainforest where they live. No insects have ever been granted legal personhood rights before. The stingless bees are believed to be important pollinators, cultivated by Indigenous people since pre-Columbian times.
Read more about the bees and the folks fighting to save them in The Guardian. |
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Center for Biological Diversity | Saving Life on Earth
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Photo credits: Delta green ground beetle courtesy USFWS, Karner blue butterfly by Katie Goodwin/USFWS; North Atlantic right whale by Allison Henry/NOAA; Dixie Valley toad by Matt Maples/Nevada Department of Wildlife; Pacific walrus courtesy USFWS; San Joaquin kit foxes by B. Moose Peterson/USFWS, burrowing owl by Jeri Krueger/USFWS; inverted food pyramid courtesy U.S. Department of Agriculture/U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; birds in flight by Adrian Campfield/Pixabay; stingless bees by Alandmanson/Wikimedia Commons.
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Center for Biological Diversity
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