Articles

Gray wolves back on ESA list

June 30, 2009 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

The Fish & Wildlife Service has announced a settlement agreement between it and several environmental groups temporarily putting the western Great Lakes population of gray wolves back on the ESA list.  The Service concedes that it erred by not allowing a public comment period on the proposed delisting. … ...

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Salazar underwhelms Fresno; federal and state officials must act to convene God Squad

June 29, 2009 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

There is plenty of coverage of Sunday's visit by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to Fresno. Aquafornia has a nice roundup of the news stories — the problem with these stories, however, is that they fail to portray how truly uninspiring Salazar's visit was. While the Secretary's visit was a nice gesture to those who have … ...

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STATEMENT : PLF lauds Ricci Supreme Court ruling

June 29, 2009 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

PLF lauds Ricci ruling, which can help PLF’s current lawsuits against San Francisco and Caltrans public-works contracting quotas The Supreme Court ruled Monday that New Haven, CT. violated federal civil rights law when it scrapped the results of a firefighters promotional exam because the top scorers did not meet the city’s preferred ra ...

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Nominee for head of Fish & Wildlife Service comes under fire

June 27, 2009 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) contend that Sam Hamilton (currently head of the Service's Southeast Region), President Obama's choice to head the Service, has underforced the ESA.  PEER's evidence:  statistics showing that, between 2004 and 2006, there were nearly 6,000 consultations in Hamilt ...

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Service refuses to delist sucker fish

June 27, 2009 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

The Service announced yesterday that it was retaining the Lost River and shortnosed suckers as protected species under the ESA, rejecting a delisting petition submitted by water rights attorney James Buchal. … ...

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California declines to list the American pika

June 26, 2009 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

It's a rabbit-like animal whose habitat is extremely climate-dependent.  Thus, CBD as listing petitioner argued that climate change justified the pika's protection under the state ESA.  The California Fish & Game Commission voted Wednesday to deny listing (this denial comes after a remand to the Commission after CBD successf ...

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Status review for Marbled Murrelet

June 25, 2009 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

Last week the Fish and Wildlife Service issued a new five-year status review for the marbled murrelet, a small seabird that lives in the Pacific Northwest.  The review recommends retention of the murrelet as a threatened distinct population segment.  The review comes a few months after PLF's unsuccessful lawsuit in Coos County ...

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PLF Welcomes Supreme Court's Ruling in AZ Schools Case (Horne v. Flores)

June 25, 2009 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

Today, in Horne v. Flores, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling on a challenge to intensive federal court supervision of Arizona public school policies and programs for English learning students. By a 5-4 vote, the court reversed a Ninth Circuit ruling that found local school policies inadequate, and sent the case back to the … ...

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Oregon moving-business cartel law is repealed

June 25, 2009 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski signed legislation yesterday to free the market for entrepreneurs in the moving industry, eliminating a decades-old rule that allowed existing moving companies to block applications for new licenses.  The change came in response to a civil rights lawsuit filed by PLF and Portland business owner Adam Sweet, whose comp ...