WASHINGTON – Today the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a nationwide permit facilitating the rapid development and construction of large-scale commercial finfish aquaculture facilities in federal waters, among other major industries.
The permit, which takes effect on March 15, 2021, will allow corporations to speed and scale up the development of industrial fish farms. This form of aquaculture uses large, floating net pens and cages that allow pollution, like excess feed, fish waste and chemicals, to flow freely into open waters, damaging marine ecosystems and harming the local fishing communities and coastal economies that depend on them. The new rule follows the Trump administration’s executive order mandating federal agencies to fast-track development, while cutting environmental review processes and other conservation measures.
Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo. Photo by Kenneth C. Zirkel/Creative Commons/Wikipedia.
President-elect Joe Biden on Friday tapped Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo to head the Department of Commerce, an agency that will take a leading role in his administration’s priority issues around the economy, environment and climate.
Raimondo, 49, was born and raised in Rhode Island and is the state’s first female governor. With a business background in the financial industry, she is seen as firmly in the centrist wing of the Democratic party, despite Republican critics’ contention that the state has been less business-friendly under her administration.
Lawsuit Challenges Large Fossil Fuel Project Proposed in Alaska’s Arctic
Map showing location of Willow Project in Alaska’s arctic. Audobon Alaska
ANCHORAGE,
Alaska Conservation groups filed a lawsuit today challenging a massive oil and gas project known as the Willow Master Development Plan in Alaska’s Western Arctic. Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law firm, sued the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace.
ConocoPhillips’ plan involves using giant chillers to refreeze thawing permafrost a consequence of climate change to ensure a solid drilling surface. The oil company plans to construct five drill sites in the northeastern corner of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, public lands that provide essential wildlife habitat for polar bears, migratory birds, caribou and other iconic species. Willow would permanently scar the largest undevelope
For Immediate Release, December 21, 2020 Contact:
Erin Jensen, Friends of the Earth, (727) 504-716, ejensen@foe.org
Rebecca Bowe, Earthjustice, (415) 217-2093, rbowe@earthjustice.org
Tyler Kruse, Greenpeace USA, (808) 741-2791, tkruse@greenpeace.org
Lawsuit Challenges Large Fossil Fuel Project Proposed in Alaska’s Arctic
Willow Project Would Mark Major Expansion for Oil, Gas Extraction in Western Arctic
ANCHORAGE,
Alaska Conservation groups filed a lawsuit today challenging a massive oil and gas project known as the Willow Master Development Plan in Alaska’s Western Arctic. Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law firm, sued the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace.