Protecting
Endangered Species at the State Level
Today, our planet is losing species faster than at any other time in all
of human history. State endangered species acts can help mitigate this
trend in our nation by seeking to assure the survival of the plants and
animals unique to each state, from piping plovers in the East to Swainson's
hawks in the West. While the federal Endangered Species Act serves the
vital role of safeguarding those plants and animals that are imperiled
across ranges or on a natural scale, state acts can protect those species
within each state's borders, which don't yet need the emergency-room measures
of the federal act. If carefully crafted, state endangered species acts
can strengthen the web of national protection efforts. A strong state
endangered species act can serve as a complement to the federal act, supplementing
protection to those species already listed so that recovery can be achieved.
A strong state act also can provide real protection to species not listed
under the federal act, thereby lessening the need for federal listing.
Coordinated state endangered species acts also can increase ecosystem-wide
protection efforts. The State Environmental Resource Center's web site
has the tools to help introduce and pass legislation to protect endangered
species in your state, including a sample bill, talking points, a press
release, a fact pack, research, and other background information. To access
this information, go to http://www.serconline.org/esa/index.html. |
| Children's
Health: |
Wisconsin:
Madison school still closed because of mold (Wisconsin
State Journal 1/4)
The Madison School District is considering several possible options
about what to do about Chavez Elementary School, a newly built school
that has been closed since Nov. 28 because of mold contamination.
After failing a December 13 mold test, district officials hope that
mold tests currently being conducted will be negative. Officials
believe that the mold was caused by improperly installed air ducts,
which caused water to condense and collect inside the school's walls. |
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Michigan:
District sued for not closing moldy school (Detroit News
Free Press 1/4)
The father of a 9-year-old schoolgirl is suing the Romeo Community
School District, saying his daughter is suffering illnesses because
she was recklessly exposed to black mold in her school. The lawsuit
filed in Macomb County Circuit Court claims the girl is suffering
from asthma, sore throats, headaches, and dizziness due to exposure
to black mold. Faculty and staff at Washington Elementary in Washington
Township have complained for more than a decade that something in
the building was making people ill. In June 2001, a study at the
school found the dangerous mold, stachybotrys, in two areas. That
led to an expensive cleanup project at Washington and testing in
all the district's schools. Washington Elementary's estimated 500
students have been attending school elsewhere while crews clean
the building. |
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| Safe
Air and Water: |
South
Carolina: Hog farm legislation to take center stage (The
State 1/6)
Plans to shield South Carolina from hog farm pollution should take
up a healthy share of the Legislature's environmental agenda in
the 2002 session. The state's chief environmental regulatory board
has recommended tighter controls on factory-style hog farms that
proponents say would protect the state from air and water contamination.
A major new component of the regulations is a requirement that pig
farms larger than 3,500 animals be at least 25 miles apart. The
rules also increase distances between hog barns and creeks, while
also banning open waste lagoons on farms of more than 3,500 pigs.
Another environmental fight looms over so-called "takings" legislation,
which would make it easier for landowners to receive government
compensation if a state or local regulation restricts use of their
property. |
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| Clean
Energy: |
New
Hampshire: Old power plant pollution bill passes House
(Foster's Daily Democrat 1/2)
Without debate, the NH House approved a plan Wednesday to cap emissions
from three old fossil fuel-burning power plants. New Hampshire would
be the first state to legislatively regulate emissions of sulfur
dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and carbon dioxide if the bill becomes
law. Under the bill, Public Service Company of New Hampshire could
clean up the plants or buy credits from utilities that own newer,
cleaner plants. |
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South
Dakota: Lawmakers split on wind energy tax break (Yankton
Daily Press 1/4)
Republicans and Democrats are split on a plan for giving tax breaks
to encourage construction of power plants that use wind turbines.
More than two-thirds of the Democratic lawmakers responding to the
survey by the Associated Press said they support the proposal. Only
a quarter of the Republican legislators said they support eliminating
the contractor's excise tax on construction of power plants such
as those using wind power. |
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Vermont:
Electric Car Clean Power Struggle Continues (Rutland Herald
12/20)
In what both sides characterized as a power struggle between the
legislative branch and the executive branch, the automobile industry
continues to be the winner as a joint legislative committee continued
to oppose Dean administration regulations governing the sale of
cleaner cars. There is pressure on Vermont to update its rules to
keep them consistent with California, which is relaxing its electric
car requirements. In Vermont, officials say that would be requiring
auto manufacturers to sell 67 electric cars, instead of almost 300.
Environmentalists and Dean say that carmakers' feet must be held
to the fire to make them produce and sell better electric cars.
The issue will likely be taken up when the Legislature reconvenes
in January. |
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| Saving
Wildlands: |
Michigan:
Tribe sues to block South Fox Island land exchange (Detroit
News 1/5)
The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians has filed
a lawsuit aimed at voiding a land swap on South Fox Island between
the state and businessman David V. Johnson. The suit contends the
Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) violated state law
and its own procedures with the deal, which DNR Director K.L. Cool
approved Dec. 7. |
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| Land
and Water Use: |
California:
Legislator Conducts Sprawl Tour for Tax-Sharing Bill (Sacramento
Bee 12/19)
California Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg conducted a capital bus
tour of vacant stores and empty car lots, highlighting a controversial
tax-sharing bill meant to curb urban sprawl. The legislator wants
metropolitan Sacramento cities and six area counties to share their
growth in sales taxes after 2002. Steinberg's idea, pioneered in
Minneapolis-St. Paul during the 1990s, aims to slow such blight
and decay that often accompanies fast-growing metro areas. Some
cities and commercial streets decline, he said, because other cities
lure car lots and stores from them simply for the sales taxes. Steinberg's
bill, AB 680, which must pass the Assembly by the end of January
to stay alive, is opposed by metropolitan Sacramento's newer cities
and rural outlying towns and counties. |
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| Saving
Wildlife: |
Wyoming:
Pull-Out Threatens 11 State Prairie Dog Plan (Boulder Daily
Camera 12/26)
Wyoming politicians have pulled their state out of an 11-member
prairie dog working group, triggering fears that federal officials
brandishing the Endangered Species Act will step in to protect the
rodents across the intermountain West. Environmentalists and agriculturalists
from Colorado to South Dakota are keeping a close eye on the move,
made earlier this month by Wyoming's fish and wildlife commissioners.
Many people worry that the commissioners undermined a two-year,
multi-state process designed to keep the federal government from
invoking the restrictive Endangered Species Act. The plan would
have protected much of the state's current prairie dog habitat,
restricted springtime shooting, and would have reduced shooting
and poisoning further if prairie dogs were not doing well. |
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Idaho:
Grizzly Concerns Ignored, Mine Approved (Spokesman-Review
12/27)
After 15 years of debate over the Rock Creek mine, state and federal
regulators approved a plan last week to tap huge silver and copper
deposits that lie beneath a wilderness area in northwest Montana.
The decision follows years of warnings on the impact the 482-acre
mine would have on grizzly bears, water quality, and the surrounding
wilderness. Opponents immediately vowed to continue the fight, both
through administrative appeals and in state District Court. "This
is an emergency-room situation in terms of grizzly bears," said
Louisa Willcox, project manager for Sierra Club's grizzly bear team,
who estimated that only a dozen bears remain in the area. "Most
experts who have looked at this proposal say this is a nail in the
coffin for this population." |
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New
Jersey: Wildlife Given New "Special Concern" Designation
(Press of Atlantic City 12/11)
Fifty-four animal species in New Jersey were recently named to a
new list -- the species of special concern. Unlike threatened and
endangered species, species of special concern receive no special
legal protection when they are found in wetlands, the coastal zone
or the Pinelands area. Rather, the list is aimed at identifying
species that need further study, hopefully, before they become endangered,
said Jane Morton-Galetto, chairwoman of the Endangered and Non-Game
Species Advisory Committee. "The preponderance of information is
that something might be wrong," Galetto said. "This is really a
proactive category. It's not regulatory, and it may not even be
advocacy. It's more like discovery." |
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| Resources: |
2001
State Environmental Legislation Wrap-Up:
Defenders of Wildlife's State Biodiversity Clearinghouse has posted
a comprehensive wrap-up of state bills relating to biodversity and
wildlife that were passed in 2001. The report is located at http://www.defenders.org/states/2001wrapup.pdf. |
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NCEL
Releases Celinda Lake Environmental Poll:
The National Caucus of Environmental Legislators has released a
poll they conducted between August 15-19, 2001 of 700 Midwestern
registered voters. Among the poll's findings of what should be a
"high priority" of their state legislator: 83 % said requiring environmental
standards that protect children's health, 85 % said tougher standards
to protect drinking water, 80 % said requiring older power plants
to meet modern air pollution standards, and 71 % said restricting
the amount and types of pesticides that are used in public schools.
For a complete copy of the poll, go to NCEL's Web site at http://www.ncel.net. |
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