Tell Congress: Whales over oil and gas sales

 

PLEASE GATHER YOUR FACTS AND SPEAK OUT AGAINST OFFSHORE 

DRILLING AND THE CONTINUED PROMOTION OF FOSSIL FUELS! 

CHINA IS SELLING INEXPENSIVE SOLAR KITS THAT INCLUDE BATTERY 

BACKUP THAT POOR COMMUNITIES ARE USING....THEY ARE OPPOSED 

BY THE INDUSTRY IN THE U.S.! 

RENEWABLES ARE CHEAPER THAN FOSSIL FUELS! 

LET'S NOT SACRIFICE SPECIES FOR A DEAD INDUSTRY! 

DIRTY ENERGY KOCH FUNDED THE OPPOSITION OF THE FIRST OFFSHORE 

WIND PROJECT: CAPE WIND! DIRTY ENERGY KOCH HAS FUNDED OPPOSITION 

TO PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION, ELECTRIC VEHICLES AND SOLAR INSTALLATIONS! 

TRUMP SUPPORTERS ARE SHIPPING LNG TO OTHER NATIONS CAUSING 

AMERICAN CONSUMERS TO PAY HIGHER PRICES! 

WE CAN ALL REDUCE OUR CONSUMPTION AND EMBRACE A FUTURE OF 

INEXPENSIVE RENEWABLES THAT PROTECT OUR ENVIRONMENT AND 

PROTECT SPECIES!  

No. 1,343, April 2, 2026

Stop the Extinction Committee From Dooming Wildlife The Trump administration just convened the Endangered Species Committee — aka Extinction Committee — for the first time in more than 30 years.  Its mission? To grant all Gulf of Mexico oil and gas activities a sweeping exemption under the Endangered Species Act — that is, a free pass to dodge the law. By fast-tracking oil drilling in the Gulf, this move would doom some of the United States’ most iconic and imperiled species. They include Rice’s whales, down to a population of only 51; Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, who nest on the Gulf’s beaches; and manatees, many of whom are still struggling to recover from a recent mass starvation event.  Given the committee’s extraordinary power to decide the fate of an endangered species, Congress intended it to only be used as a last resort. The Trump administration is weaponizing this power to pad the oil and gas industry’s profits.  If you live in the United States, tell Congress to speak out against the Extinction Committee to save whales, sea turtles, and other critically imperiled Gulf species.

New Analyses: Cancer Warnings and Pesticides Two new analyses show that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has routinely failed to require cancer warnings on pesticide products — even when its own assessments found a high cancer risk for those products.   The Center for Biological Diversity looked at labels for all currently approved pesticides, finding that the EPA put cancer warnings on only 69 of 4,919 products the agency itself designated a “likely” human carcinogen.   Our timing is key: Later this month the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case hinging on whether the EPA has sole authority to implement pesticide-label warnings. Pesticide manufacturers are trying to get off the hook from future lawsuits brought by people who contracted glyphosate-linked cancers after using glyphosate-based products (like Roundup). The same pesticides the EPA fails to label for cancer risks are also driving species declines. Glyphosate kills milkweed, monarch butterflies’ only host plant.   Help us defend public health and pollinators from pesticides by giving to our Health for the Wild Fund. (Do it now and your donation will be doubled.)

Victory: Court Supports Ice Seals’ Habitat Protection Fourteen years after we gained Endangered Species Act protection for bearded and ringed seals, the Center is still notching wins for them. Thanks to our legal intervention, a federal appeals court just upheld the designation of nearly 160 million acres off Alaska’s Arctic coast as their critical habitat.   Alaska had sued over the designation, arguing that it hindered oil and gas development, and in 2024 a lower court struck it down — but that decision didn’t last long. The new ruling reinstates full safeguards for these seals’ icy home, hit hard by climate change.   Bearded seals, known for their adorable mustaches and elaborate courtship songs, give birth and nurse pups on sea ice. Ringed seals, named for the gray rings covering their blubbery bodies, have pups in snow caves they build on top of sea ice — which can collapse as temperatures warm, with fatal consequences for the pups.

Court Axes Trump Rules Gutting Endangered Species Act Ruling on a lawsuit by the Center and allies, on Tuesday a federal court overturned four key provisions of regulations weakening the Endangered Species Act, issued under the first Trump administration.   The nixed provisions include one that would’ve allowed “smaller” habitat-destroying projects, like clearcutting spotted owl habitat, and one that would’ve forced the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to accept promises — even empty promises — of species-protecting mitigation measures when projects move forward.   “I’m thrilled the court tossed these efforts to gut endangered species protections and eviscerate a law Americans love,” said Center attorney Ryan Shannon.

Lawsuit Launched to Protect Horseshoe Crabs Horseshoe crabs are more than twice as old as the dinosaurs. Now they face extinction from modern threats — that is, people. Their populations have plummeted by more than 70% in recent decades because of habitat loss and killing for the biomedical and bait industries.   The Center petitioned to protect them under the Endangered Species Act, but earlier this year the Trump administration refused — so we just gave notice that we intend to sue.   Never seen a horseshoe crab? Head to Facebook or Instagram to watch one of these ancient animals slide through the sand using all 10 legs.

The Revelator: Saving Hawksbills Hawksbill sea turtles face just about every kind of threat, from climate change and coastal development to poaching and plastic pollution. But as author Alice Henderson writes, there are also plenty of things people can do to help save this species.   Read more in The Revelator.   And if you haven’t yet, make sure you’re subscribed to The Revelator’s free weekly newsletter.

That’s Wild: Sperm Whales’ Pod Power In July 2023 scientists on a boat in the Caribbean — employing two aerial drones — watched in amazement as a pod of female sperm whales gathered near the ocean’s surface, apparently to help a whale named Rounder give birth. Underwater microphones recorded the whales’ communication as the calf emerged (tail first, like all whales are born) and helpers then lifted the newborn to breathe air for the first time.   Two new studies now describe that day’s events, giving the most comprehensive report of a sperm whale birth in history — and showing a remarkably coordinated and cooperative effort, even by whales not related to the new mother. It’s the first evidence of birth assistance in non-primates.   Learn more fascinating details and watch a video of the birth. Have a friend who'd like this email? Forward it.