US Fish and Wildlife Service must rule soon on the Mexican Wolf

Conservation groups seek endangered species status. Judge tells USFWS to make up their mind quickly-

The restoration of the Mexican wolf under the experimental, non-essential rule that guided the restoration of wolves to the Northern Rockies has been a fiasco. Groups want to give the rare wolf fully endangered status, which has more teeth.  USFWS has dragged its feet on making a decision. Now a federal judge tells the Service to decide by the end of July.

Agency must decide on proposed endangered species listing for Mexican gray wolf by end of July, judge rules– Sue Major Holmes, Associated Press

Endangered Species Act: Noah’s Ark or Titanic?

Do we need an Endangered Ecosystems Act?

Many biologists believe we have instigated the 6th great extinction episode in Earth’s history; some estimate the pace of extinction has soared to 100,000 species a year. Renowned paleoanthropologist, Richard Leakey, believes half of the Earth’s species will vanish within 100 years and warns that this die-off could come sooner if greenhouse gases wreak havoc with the Earth’s climate. Preserving biodiversity is no longer an altruistic enterprise—it’s a matter of human survival.

Endangered Species Act: Noah’s Ark or Titanic?.
The Berkeley Daily Planet

Big Oil wants a permanent corridor through the Lolo

More on the attempt to make U.S. Highway 12 an oil industry corridor-

This from the new group, the Rural People of Highway 12.

U.S. Highway 12: Idaho’s Northwest Passage Scenic Byway and All-American Road

• • •

Big Oil: One-Time Deal or Permanent Takeover?

Promoters of turning Idaho’s Northwest Passage Scenic Byway and All-American Road into an industrial truck route for gargantuan loads argue that currently planned and pending ConocoPhillips and Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil Canada mega-load shipments are a “one-off deal;” a one time event. Actually, the ExxonMobil Canada shipments alone number 207, and for successive 15+ minute segments, will close the highway to all traffic five nights a week for an estimated 9 months. But the truth about the oil companies’ intentions lies well beyond those 207 loads……

• The Port of Lewiston, both on their website and in grant applications for port expansion with taxpayer money, states, “If one oil company is successful with this alternative transportation route, many other companies will follow their lead.”

• The CEO of Sungjin Geotec, the Korean company that manufactured the 207 ExxonMobil Canada modules, told a Korean news agency his company expects to receive future orders for additional modules from Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil Canada totaling $1.5 billion. The 207 loads now scheduled for U. S. 12 cost $250 million, suggesting that $1.5 billion would pay for about 1200 modules. The Edmonton Journal of Alberta, Canada, recently reported that a Sungjin representative in Calgary confirmed that his company expects to build hundreds of additional modules.

Missoulans protest Alberta-bound tar sands equipment trucking

Over 200 trips of these giant oil equipment pieces to go through U.S. 12 in Idaho and NW Montana-

I think perhaps there has been too much attention in this forum on elk in Lolo.  Elk are important, but fishing, scenery, wilderness, and property of local people are more important. U.S.Highway 12 is one of Idaho’s most scenic highways. It goes through scenic canyon and between wild country following the Clearwater River, then the Lochsa River up and over Lolo Pass into Montana.

The exploitation of Alberta’s tar sands are well known as perhaps the single most environmentally destructive project on the planet (at least until the Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf of Mexico). Now that destruction has spread to Idaho and Montana with these massive loads which require “improving” Highway 12 and other highways in Montana.

Some of the good folks in Missoula are fed up with oil company damages and protested. Protest rally. By Rob Chaney. Missoulian.

We will be following this more from now on.