06.17.19 - Desktop / Mobile update:
updates and stories we're following....

Climate Victory for 150,000 acres in Utah and Colorado
From Western Environmental Law Center -- Our team of attorneys secured another win for the climate. We proved the Trump administration must disclose the climate impacts of fracking on public lands in Colorado and Utah and it must consider the cumulative impacts of greenhouse gas emissions generated by oil and gas lease sales in those states. This victory comes to us shortly after a similar win we had addressing fracking on public lands in Wyoming. This victory also marks our seventh win in a row halting reckless coal, oil, and gas exploitation on public lands across the American West. Our victories are setting the legal precedent needed for broad reforms to the federal fossil fuel leasing system. With your support, we are tackling the climate crisis and are holding the Trump administration accountable to the law. Learn more. https://westernlaw.org/another-win-climate-judge-orders-feds-disclose-climate-impacts-public-lands-fracking-colorado-utah/

New Case to Protect Grizzlies: End Bear Baiting
A significant number of threatened grizzly bears are also getting shot and killed at black bear baiting stations. Most western states have banned the practice of bear baiting for hunting, but Idaho and Wyoming still allow it on national forest lands, even in habitat where grizzlies may be found. We filed a new lawsuit challenging the federal government's policy granting states authority to allow black bear baiting in national forests. We are using the power of the law to ensure grizzly bears recover and thrive in the wild. Learn more https://westernlaw.org/grizzly-deaths-spur-bear-baiting-challenge-idaho-wyoming/

Keeping Public Access on Public Lands
The Crazy Mountains in Montana are on public lands, yet are almost completely surrounded by private lands. The public has had longstanding access to these mountains and U.S. Forest Service trail maps show many public hiking trails. However, some people are illegally attempting to deny access to several public trails by removing Forest Service signs and installing locked gates. Representing a coalition of local groups, we filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service for neglecting its duty to protect and preserve public access in these mountains. Learn more https://westernlaw.org/public-land-advocates-forest-service-must-reopen-public-trails-montanas-crazy-mountains/

Urgent Yucca nuke waste dump action alert:
Urge U.S. House Rules Committee members to oppose Shimkus amendment
The Fiscal Year 2020 Energy & Water Appropriations Bill will be voted on, on the U.S. House Floor, later this week. U.S. Rep. Shimkus (Republican-IL) has proposed an amendment, to add tens of millions of dollars of Yucca nuke waste dump funding, into the bill. https://amendments-rules.house.gov/amendments/SHIMKU_006_xml67190949324932.pdf   -- and more at http://www.beyondnuclear.org

New Mexico Governor declares opposition to nuclear waste site
In a strongly worded letter to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) chairman, and the U.S. Energy Secretary, Lujan Grisham (pictured), a Democrat elected last November, made it clear New Mexico does not consent to becoming a consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) for the country's high-level radioactive waste. http://www.beyondnuclear.org/home/2019/6/10/new-mexico-governor-opposes-temporary-radioactive-waste-stor.html

Environmental groups and Nevada push back against 

Congressional efforts to rush open nuclear dumps
Last week, Don Hancock of Southwest Research and Information Center of Albuquerque, NM, spoke truth to power at a U.S. congressional field hearing, held at the permanently shutdown San Onofre nuclear power plant in southern California. As reported by AP: "There is not consensus about health and safety standards, including whether commercial spent fuel is safe where it is," said Don Hancock of the Southwest Research and Information Center, a nonprofit watchdog group. "If it is safe where it is, why move it? If it's not safe where it is, how can it be safe to transport through many other communities?" http://www.beyondnuclear.org/radioactive-waste-whatsnew/2019/6/7/house-panel-highlights-risks-over-nuclear-storage-stalemate.html

What about the nuclear waste left behind at Oyster Creek?
After decades of warning that the continued operation of the nation's nuclear plants would leave behind mountains of atomic waste that would remain highly radioactive for tens of thousands of years, the day of reckoning has arrived. https://www.app.com/story/opinion/columnists/2019/06/14/nuclear-waste-oyster-creek-yucca-mountain-holtec/1454375001/

Fracked Gas Pipeline Would Cost NC $20 Billion, Impair State Economy, 

Worsen Climate Impacts: Coalition Urges Governor to Stop the Bleeding
Durham, NC - If ever completed, a stalled and controversial fracked gas pipeline would cost North Carolinians over $20 billion due to ongoing cost overruns, make energy bills soar and amplify statewide climate impacts, the Energy Justice NC Coalition* told Governor Roy Cooper today. In addition, they say Duke Energy and Dominion Energy, the owners of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, have played a cruel hoax on economically depressed counties along the proposed route by promising natural gas for new industry while planning to use nearly all of it in Duke's own power plants. https://www.ncwarn.org/wp-content/uploads/ltr-6-17-19-Cooper-ACP.pdf   and more at www.ncwarn.org