VERNAL, Utah – A coalition of conservation groups plans to sue the Trump administration over plans to construct a commercial oil-shale development in Utah's Uintah Basin.

The groups claim the planned Enefit project would drain billions of gallons of water from the upper Colorado River Basin, threaten endangered species and generate greenhouse-gas pollution.

Taylor McKinnon, senior public-lands campaigner with the Center for Biological Diversity, says the administration already has approved the rights-of-way for pipelines and power lines for the massive strip-mining operation.

"This project is a ubiquitously bad idea," McKinnon insists. "It's proposing to pull water out of the Colorado River – at a time when we're facing historic shortages – to develop a high-carbon fuel, in a time when climate change is causing dramatic declines and flows in the Colorado River. "

The coalition claims that permits issued for the project ignore its potential impact on several species of endangered fish. It accuses the federal government of studying only the water depletion necessary to build the pipeline, not to operate it.

According to McKinnon, over the 30-year life of the project, more than 10,000 acre-feet of water would be taken each year from the Green River, which is part of the Colorado's upper basin.

He says previous attempts to develop shale-oil production in the western U.S. have failed, in part because it's an inefficient way to produce energy.

"It requires a tremendous amount of energy to mine, process and then transport that oil," he explains. "The net result is that the energy needed to produce a barrel of oil-shale oil is vastly higher than conventional oil."

McKinnon says the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have 60 days to comply with the Endangered Species Act or the coalition will go forward with the suit.

"Our lawsuit says they need to go back and look at the impacts – not just of constructing the pipeline, but actually operating the pipeline and taking all of that water out of the Green River," he adds.

Other groups in the coalition include Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, the Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club, Living Rivers, Earthjustice and the Natural Resources Defense Council.




get more stories like this via email

HIGH POINT, N.C. - The National Wildlife Federation and Sustainable Furnishings Council have released the latest list of furniture retailers who rely on sustainably sourced wood.

Companies such as Cisco Home, Williams-Sonoma, The Arrangement and Working Wonders ranked at the top for sustainable practices.

Susan Inglis - executive director of the Sustainable Furnishings Council - said the scorecard is both a guide for conscientious consumers and a blueprint for retailers seeking to improve their wood-sourcing standards.

"These companies have all made a commitment to sourcing their wood products carefully," said Inglis, "so as to avoid contributing to deforestation."

North Carolina is home to the fifth-largest wood-product manufacturing industry in the nation. The Scorecard is available online at 'sustainablefurnishings.org.'

Barbara Bramble - vice president for International Wildlife Conservation at the National Wildlife Federation - explained that much of the wood used to make furniture is harvested from natural forests, but she said wood production can be done sustainably without worsening deforestation.

Around 30% of the world's forests are production forests.

"A lot of wood harvests around the world are illegal," said Bramble, "and unsustainable in other ways, damaging to forests and soils and water quality, but it doesn't have to be that way."

Inglis said the scorecard goes beyond home decor, pointing out that when trees are cut down, their stored carbon is released into the environment. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, tropical deforestation makes up around 20% of annual global greenhouse-gas emissions.

"Consumers do understand more and more that healthy forests have something to do with our being able to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change," said Inglis.

Bramble said momentum is growing in wood-dependent industries to step up policies and practices that promote responsibly sourced wood.

"Even during this last year and a half of the COVID pandemic," said Bramble, "we have found that the number of companies getting involved in the wood furniture scorecard, getting interested in increasing their score, has gone up with each installment each year."

About a third of wood extracted from natural forests worldwide is used for timber products, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Now through November, Pennsylvania groups will plant an estimated 300,000 trees for fall, as part of a goal of 10 million new trees in the state by 2025.

The Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership is one of the projects the state and organizations are undertaking to get Pennsylvania on track for its 2025 Chesapeake Bay pollution-reduction plan.

By planting 10 million trees, the state can meet its goal of 95,000 acres of riparian buffers, where native trees and shrubs are planted next to waterways to help prevent nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment pollution from finding its way into Chesapeake Bay.

Brenda Sieglitz, senior manager of the Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said it has been increasing the biodiversity of the trees they offer, including species such as sugar maple, hazelnut and pawpaw.

"We really encourage people to try and take the trees and not only increase forestation in Pennsylvania but use it as a resource as well to maybe increase food production or use it as a way to maybe add something to their farm by way of fruit and nut production," Sieglitz outlined.

The 10 Million Trees program works with about 200 partners throughout the state to plant trees along waterways, in cities with low tree canopy, and on abandoned mine land. Half of the freshwater flowing into Chesapeake Bay comes from Pennsylvania.

A Ten Million Trees partner, the Swatara Watershed Association, takes care of Swatara Creek, which starts in Schuylkill County and feeds into the Susquehanna River in Dauphin County.

Bethany Canner, vice president of the Association, said they have planted an estimated 750 trees so far. She noted the addition of more trees to the regional landscape has a positive impact on wildlife.

"Every time we put a development in, every time we put a new road in, we're taking away habitat," Canner explained. "The more trees we can get in, it provides a greater habitat that some of these species that need greater chunks of woods to survive, you know, it helps them to be able to survive."

Project partners planted over 1 million trees so far this year and hope to plant 800,000 more this spring.

OLD LYME, Conn. -- Connecticut soon will join a majority of East Coast states in having a federally recognized estuary, which could help identify environmental threats to waterways and natural resources within Long Island Sound.

The creation of a Natural Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) in Connecticut would bring up to $1 million per year for scientific study and education. Supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the proposed reserve areas include up the Connecticut River, which feeds into the eastern part of Long Island Sound.

Patrick Comins, executive director of the Connecticut Audubon Society, said although the reserve funding does not go specifically toward conservation, it will help streamline the efforts.

"What it will do is allow us to collect more data so when there are willing landowners within the boundary, who want to have their land preserved," Comins explained. "This will help to justify the appropriation of funds to protect that property by saying it's a part of the NERR and other great things about the Long Island Sound-Thames-Connecticut River Estuary."

The Audubon Society has been involved in the reserve planning process. NOAA is taking public comments through next Monday, October 18th. Comins noted they expect the specific boundaries of the reserve to be announced by January.

Comins pointed out an estimated 400 species are at risk within the proposed reserve, including the wood turtle and saltmarsh sparrow. He added conducting research for the project has impacted the organization's conservation priorities.

"This process has caused Connecticut Audubon Society to have much more of a focus on our estuary and migratory fishes than we had in the past," Comins emphasized. "And we're hoping that it'll provide a lot more information about these species of conservation concern and allow us to be much more proactive in our conservation effort."

According to the reserve's environmental impact statement, Long Island Sound is considered one of the most valuable estuaries in the country and, similar to other waterways, is under threat from pollution and the effects of climate change.