NOAA Sued Over Whale Injuries from Drift Gillnets off California
that sap their strength, cause stress and interfere with breathing, feeding and reproduction."This struggling humpback whale population faces numerous threats, and these absurdly huge nets are one more hazard they can't avoid," said Catherine Kilduff, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, the group that filed suit.A spokesperson for the Fisheries Service, a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said the agency does not comment on active litigation.Two populations of humpbacks are at stake: a group of about 1,500 whales listed as endangered
US Government Sued Over Atlantic Seismic Testing
been known to cause whale beachings. A spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency within the Commerce Department, declined to discuss ongoing litigation.Plaintiffs in the lawsuit also included the Southern Environmental Law Center, Sierra Club, Oceana, the Center for Biological Diversity and the North Carolina Coastal Federation.Lawmakers from South Carolina and coastal mayors held a news conference on Tuesday in Charleston to address the issue.U.S. Representative-elect Joe Cunningham, a Democrat, said drilling threatens fishing industries, jobs, recreation and a tourism
Trump Aims to Open Nearly All US Offshore to Oil Drilling
said. Environmental groups described the plan as dangerous. “Trump’s trying to turn our oceans into oilfields. His reckless plan would expose more wildlife and coastal communities to devastating oil spills,” said Kristen Monsell, ocean program legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. Coastal tourism business groups were girding for a long fight against the proposal, which comes as the Gulf Coast recovers from the Deepwater spill. The plan would open the California coast where drilling opposition has been fierce since a major oil spill in the 1960s soiled
Trump Administration Approves Eni Plan to Drill Offshore Alaska
; An environmental lawyer said her group would work to stop the drilling. "We'll fight Trump's reckless giveaway of our oceans for the sake of polar bears, whales and ice seals and the fragile ecosystems where they live," said Kristen Monsell, a lawyer with the nonprofit group, the Center for Biological Diversity. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Lisa Shumaker
EPA Sued Over Clean Water Rules to Curb Ocean Acidification
chain in waters off California. The EPA in 2010 stated its intention to issue acidification guidance to the states "pursuant to its duties under the Clean Water Act," but has yet to do so, the lawsuit said. The agency has likewise failed to act on a petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity in April 2013 seeking new standards addressing the problem, according to the complaint. The EPA has acknowledged the harm posed to marine life from rising levels of carbon dioxide deposited in the ocean from fossil fuel combustion. Dissolved in seawater, CO2 reacts to form carbonic
WHOI Hosts Public Forum and Art Exhibit
WHOI’s Ocean and Climate Change Institute "The Power of Photography in Telling Science Stories" by Chris Linder, WHOI Research Associate "Polar Wildlife Threatened by Climate Change – How Can We Help?" by Shaye Wolf, Climate Science Director at the Center for Biological Diversity "Connecting Science and Decision Making under the Endangered Species Act: The Case of Polar Bears" by Lynn Scarlet, Co-director at the Center for the Management of Ecological Wealth "Polar Bears, Science, and Uncertainty" by Hal Caswell, WHOI Senior
February 2025
