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Tell the Feds: Oil Rigs and Space Rockets Don't Mix |
Houston, we have a problem: The Trump administration has proposed to turn rickety offshore oil rigs into “spaceports,” sites for launching and landing spacecraft.
This isn't some clever repurposing scheme, though — quite the opposite. No oil rig or platform was designed to withstand the rigors of rocket operations. Using antiquated infrastructure for launch and recovery activities could threaten workers' safety and degrade water quality. And the rocket noise, explosions, fuel spills, and industrial activity would harm marine life like whales and sea turtles.
The law requires oil companies to remove aging offshore platforms and restore habitat when drilling stops. The new proposal could let them attempt to leave decrepit rigs in the ocean "for future spaceport use" (aka indefinitely).
Tell the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management: Don’t let Big Oil dodge its duties and convert our oceans into industrial testing grounds for billionaires' rockets.
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Suit Filed Over Road Permit for the Izembek Refuge |
Along with several Alaska Native villages, the Center for Biological Diversity just sued the Trump administration for greenlighting the bulldozing of a road through Alaska’s Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. Izembek is a globally important stopover for millions of migratory birds, from Pacific black brants to emperor geese and endangered Steller’s eiders. Many migrate through to the Yukon-Kuskokwim (or YK) Delta, where they’re essential to the lifeways of Native communities. The road would pass through the center of those wild lands, degrading irreplaceable habitat.
“Congress specifically protected Izembek from exactly this type of destruction,” said the Center’s Marlee Goska. “This attempted end run around the law sets a dangerous precedent for all federally protected lands in Alaska.”
Back our battle for Alaska wildlands with a gift to the Future for the Wild Fund. |
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Okefenokee Wins World Heritage Status |
Amazing news: This week the UNESCO World Heritage Committee (run by a special agency of the United Nations) put the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge on the World Heritage List. Encompassing more than 400,000 acres and about 93% of the Okefenokee Swamp, the refuge supports hundreds of species, including federally protected red-cockaded woodpeckers and eastern indigo snakes. It remains largely intact but is threatened by titanium dioxide mining at adjacent Trail Ridge. “The Okefenokee’s World Heritage status underscores the importance of protecting this beautiful place from mining’s ongoing threat,” said the Center’s Florida Policy Director Jason Totoiu. “We need an uninterrupted, unspoiled landscape.” |
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Take Action for Red Wolves’ Future |
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You're Invited: VS. GOLIATH Documentary Series |
What happens when ordinary people take on billion-dollar industries?
This summer and fall the Center, Fossil Free Media, Third Act, the Sierra Club, and other partners are hosting free, monthly online screenings of VS. GOLIATH, a documentary series covering the fight between everyday people across the United States and the fossil fuel companies polluting their communities. Learn more about each film — and the Q&A panels that follow — and RSVP now: |
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The Revelator: Dolphin DNA |
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That’s Wild: The Spider Who Catapults Ants |
In the tropical rainforests of Queensland, Australia, scientists have discovered a spider with a novel means of capturing its prey — but only its favorite species of prey. Ballista spiders build cone-shaped anchors attaching their web lines to leaves. The finishing touch on the anchor is a type of thinner silk that quickly attracts the aggressive, territorial green tree ants with whom they share their habitat.
When an ant approaches and bites the lure, the anchor is severed and the ant is propelled at high speed into the spider’s core web, there to become dinner.
Watch a video showing how it happens.
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Center for Biological Diversity
P.O. Box 710
Tucson, AZ 85702
United States |
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