Gee, what a surprise

When Trump gets back in office in 2025, they'll just strip the protections again.

Cleaning up Trump's mess

Your tax dollars at work

ProPublica reported in December that Trump Jr. "received special treatment" and obtained a "coveted and rare permit" to hunt and kill an argali sheep. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists the argali as a threatened species when found in Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Tajikistan and an endangered one when found outside those countries.

[...]

The nonprofit news organization said the permit was granted retroactively Sept. 2 after he had already shot and killed one of the threatened animals.

[...]

Mongolian officials contested that account. A statement from the Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism called ProPublica's reporting "factually inaccurate" and said Trump Jr. "was in fact participating in an important aspect of the Mongolian Government’s conservation program for the endangered Argali Sheep."

It said the hunting permit had been granted to a "local Mongolian hunting company" in January 2019, then sold to an international hunting organization.

  USA Today

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Burn it all down

A plan by the Trump administration to change the rules under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act could devastate the population of threatened and endangered species and accelerate their decline across North America, a former US wildlife official has warned.

Dan Ashe, a former US Fish and Wildlife Service Director, told the The Associated Press news agency news agency that for years the law's threat of prosecution served as "a brake on industry" and had probably saved billions of birds.

[...]

"It will be catastrophic."

[...]

Industry sources and pollutants kill an estimated 450 million to 1.1 billion birds annually, out of an overall 7.2 billion birds in North America, according to recent studies by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Under the 50-year practice in the migratory bird law, criminal penalties are being used to put pressure on companies into taking measures to prevent unintentional bird deaths.

The Trump administration dismissed Ashe's dire prediction, contending companies will continue to avoid bird deaths voluntarily.

  alJazeera

And that, we all know, is bullshit. Also, if companies are concerned enough to do that, what does it matter if the law is there? There's only one reason to remove it: because it's in their way.

The Trump administration's proposal follows longstanding pressure from oil companies, utilities and other industries.

[...]

The 1918 migratory bird law was passed after many US bird populations were destroyed by hunting and poaching, much of it for feathers for women's hats.

Over the past half-century, the law was also applied against companies that failed to prevent foreseeable bird deaths.

However, the Trump administration says deaths of birds that fly into oil pits, mining sites, telecommunications towers, wind turbines and other hazards should be treated as accidents not subject to prosecution. And an Interior Department proposal would cement that into federal regulation.

What happened to "these ugly windmills are killing thousands of beautiful birds!"?

State officials and wildlife advocates who are suing the administration in federal court say birds are already being harmed under actions allowed by a 2017 Trump administration legal memo that signalled the rule change.

Most notable was the destruction last northern autumn of nesting grounds for 25,000 shorebirds in Virginia to make way for a road and tunnel project. State officials had ended conservation measures for the birds after federal officials advised such measures were voluntary under the new interpretation of the law.

The move to relax the bird law, combined with Trump's relaxations of the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act puts birds and their habitat at greater risk.

[...]

The American Petroleum Institute suggested in a regulatory filing: "The birds themselves are the actors, colliding or otherwise interacting with industrial structures."

Jesus Tapdancing Christ! (h/t Kevin Kruse). Perhaps the birds should be fined!

This administration will be the death of the planet.

UPDATE:

Another block by the courts

U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner late Friday ruled that the federal government “exceeded its authority” when it withdrew a rule in June 2017 that initially suspended the use of swordfish gillnets off the coast of Southern California if any bycatch limits were exceeded.

The previous proposal had fisherman place numerical limits on the accidental catches of bottlenose dolphins, four species of whales and four species of sea turtles that are frequently caught in gillnets. If those limits were exceeded, the fisheries were then mandated to cease use of the technique altogether.

The judge’s ruling sends the proposal back to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and orders the agency under the Commerce Department to either finalize the rule as proposed or consult with the Pacific Fishery Management Council on any revisions.

The rule was initially endorsed by the council in 2015 and formally proposed for implementation by the NMFS in 2016. It was expected to gain final approval as a federal regulation until the Trump administration intervened.

  The Hill

Trump will be eager to replace Judge Klausner.

Drift nets are frequently linked to the deaths of sea turtles and marine mammals, including whales and sea lions. Fishermen use them by hanging the nets like walls above the seafloor. They often indiscriminately catch whatever flows into them.

“Any fishery that throws away more than it keeps needs to change, especially a fishery that is killing some of the world’s most remarkable — and most endangered — marine species,” said Geoff Shester, senior scientist for Oceana, in a statement Friday.

Trump, with the backing of his supporters, will also be eager to deport - or "lock up" - scientists once he's enshrined as emperor. ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Make Everything Suck Again

Not just the US, but all of the biosphere is being set back decades by the Trump administration.

The state of Wyoming announced Wednesday that it will allow grizzly bear hunts for the first time in 44 years.

In a unanimous vote, the state's Fish and Game Commission approved the hunting of 22 grizzly bears in the fall, in areas east and south of the Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.

The ruling comes after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rolled back protections on grizzlies last year — removing Yellowstone grizzly bears from the federal Endangered Species list after 42 years on it.

  The Hill

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Typical Trump appointment

That's a headline for which you could pretty well substitute any agency/department appointment by Trump. Dubya did it, too, but Trump is surpassing even him.

Susan Combs, who was recently appointed by Trump as acting assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks, has in the past compared the endangered species listings to “incoming Scud missiles.”

In her previous post as Texas comptroller, Combs played a key role in wresting control of the endangered species program from the state’s Parks and Wildlife Department, the Texas Observer reported.

While leading the office, Combs viewed endangered species protections as federal overreach and vowed to protect business interests thwarted by certain endangered species listings, according to the Observer.

  The Hill

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Hold up on the elephants

But, hey. Fuck the lions.

Destroyers R Us

Two U.S. AV-8B Harrier jets accidentally bombed Australia’s Great Barrier Reef during a training exercise on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.

The jets launched from USS Bonhomme Richard and accidentally released an inert bomb and an unarmed explosive bomb from 164 feet above the water, according to a statement released from U.S. 7th Fleet on Saturday. Neither of the bombs exploded and they possibly caused minimal damage to the reef.

  Raw Story

”Possibly.” I am having doubts.

US officials said the pilots of two AV-8B Harrier jets were forced to jettison the unarmed devices on Tuesday because both aircraft were running low on fuel and could not land with the bombs on board.

The pilots intended to drop the munitions on a designated bombing range on Townshend Island but aborted the mission when controllers reported the area was not clear of hazards.

Instead, they jettisoned two bombs from each aircraft on the World Heritage-listed marine park off the coast of Queensland state.

  New Sky

Low on fuel? Both of them?  Somebody forget to fill up the tanks? Somebody failed to calculate the amount of fuel needed correctly? And how many bombs were there?  Two?

The four bombs, weighing a total 1.8 metric tons (4,000 pounds), were dropped in more than 50 meters (164 feet) of water away from coral that was supposed to have minimized possible damage to the reef, the statement said. None of the bombs exploded.

[...]

The pilots [...] went ahead with an emergency jettison as they were not allowed to land with bombs on board and both were low on fuel, the navy said.

  RT

Oh. Two EACH.

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven wonders of the natural world, and pulling away from it, and viewing it from a greater distance, you can understand why. It is larger than the Great Wall of China and the only living thing on earth visible from space.

[...]

The Great Barrier Reef is a breeding area for humpback whales, migrating from the Antarctic and is also the habitat of a few endangered species including the Dugong (Sea Cow) and large Green Sea Turtle. In recognition of its significance, UNESCO listed the Great Barrier Reef as a World Heritage Site in 1981.

  GreatBarrierReef.org

One of these things doesn’t belong here. Can you guess which one?



Actually, perhaps two of these things.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

The Great Barrier Reef:  A Fragile Empire  (BBC)