A federal appeals court is reinstating restrictions on fishing gear in a nearly 1,000-square-mile swathe of ocean off Maine’s coast. It’s a blow to Maine’s lobstermen and a victory for advocates for the endangered North Atlantic right whale.
Erica Fuller, a senior attorney at Conservation Law Foundation, one of the environmental groups involved in the appeal, said the court’s “decision affirms that science matters.”
Our forests, open spaces, farms, and ocean can help us fight the climate crisis if we responsibly manage and conserve them. It’s time for Congress to invest in natural climate solutions now.
The House Oversight Committee recently held a hearing to interrogate Big Oil executives about their companies’ decades of deliberate climate disinformation. A disappointing yet unsurprising outcome tells us it’s time for more climate mandates for real accountability.
Thousands of hazardous waste sites and chemical facilities across New England are unprepared for the impacts of climate change. The failure of regulators to require such preparation leaves the health of our communities and our environment in jeopardy.
The preliminary injunction filed in federal court is part of a larger lawsuit the Atlantic Salmon Federation, Conservation Law Foundation, Maine Rivers and Natural Resources Council of Maine are pursuing against Brookfield Renewable for allegedly violating the federal Endangered Species Act.
Our communities and neighborhoods deserve to be safe – and we must urgently transition off dirty gas to protect them.
“There is a limited window of time to save critically endangered right whales,” said CLF Senior Attorney Erica Fuller. “Closing certain areas to fishing when high numbers of right whales are present is the most effective way to reduce risk. While NOAA’s final rule has not gone nearly far enough to recover the species, this new closure will reduce the chance that whales become entangled in lobster gear in the Gulf of Maine. The Union’s lawsuit seeks to prevent the government from implementing one of the few proven measures and we cannot stand by and let that happen.”
CLF celebrates the fifth anniversary of the designation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. Now, we’re calling for more of our ocean and land to be permanently protected.
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