Demonstrating once again the importance of presidential elections and appointments, the 9th Circuit has upheld the National Marine Fisheries Service's policy on considering hatchery fish in listing Pacific salmonids. (Hat tip: ESA blawg.) Hatchery fish can be a boon or a bane to salmon conservation. Because hatchery programs have emphasized production of fish for harvest, on the whole they have been far more harmful than helpful to wild fish over the last century. Full text
CPR Member Scholar Holly Doremus blogs on the growing population of right whales: It's easy for environmentalists to get depressed, given the amount of bad news about climate change, species losses, and the like. But sometimes there is unexpectedly good news. This morning's New York Times has one of those stories. The Atlantic right whale, which not long ago was thought by many to be a lost cause, appears to be rebounding. Last year brought a record number of calves, and "probably for the first time since the 1600s, not one North Atlantic right whale died at human hands." Full text
CPR Member Scholar Holly Doremus blogs on the Obama Administration's announcement that it would review President Bush's "midnight regulation" weakening the requirement that agencies contemplating actions that might harm endangered or threatened species consult first with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and/or the National Marine Fisheries Service. Full text
Center for Progressive Reform Member Scholar Holly Doremus blogs on the announcement by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson that EPA would reconsider the Bush EPA's memorandum declining to regulate CO2 emissions from newly built power plants. Full text
Center for Progressive Reform Member Scholar Holly Doremus blogs on the collision of politics and science at the Bush Department of Interior. Full text
Center for Progressive Reform Member Scholar Holly Doremus blogs on the Bush Administration record of exempting water transfers from Clean Water Act requirements. Full text