Federal Judge Returns Yellowstone Grizzlies to Endangered Species List

Earlier today, a federal judge in Montana restored federal Endangered Species Act protection to grizzly bears in the Northern Rocky Mountains, blocking the first U.S. hunts planned for the animals outside of Alaska since 1991.

U.S. District Court Judge Dana Christensen had delayed the hunts twice already, and his latest order blocking them was due to expire later this week. Had the court's previous order expired, Idaho and Wyoming were poised to allow up to 23 bears to be killed by hunters.

Wildlife groups and Native American tribes had sued when the Department of the Interior revoked federal protections for more than 700 grizzly bears living in and around Yellowstone National Park last year. Wildlife advocates argued that the animals face continued threats from climate change and loss of habitat. Government biologists claimed that Yellowstone's grizzlies have adapted to changes in their diet, are among the best-managed bears in the world, and are thriving.

Shortly after passage of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the grizzlies in Yellowstone were listed as a threatened species in 1975, when the population numbered just 136 animals after most bears were killed off early last century.

After more than 30 years of protection, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service initially declared that the Yellowstone population had successfully recovered in 2007, but a federal judge ordered the protections to remain in place while wildlife officials studied whether the decline of whitebark pine seeds (a major food source) could threaten the bears' survival. The agency concluded last year that it had addressed that and all other threats to the grizzlies and removed them from the list, thus removing federal protections for the bears and their habitat.

That decision allowed management of the bears to revert back to the states, which agreed on a plan that set hunting quotas designed to ensure that the population would stay above 600 animals.

Judge Christensen ruled today that the fedeal agency had not adequately considered threats to the species' long-term recovery. He specifically opined that the case was "not about the ethics of hunting," but instead about whether threats to the long-term survival of the species had been evaluated.

The Fish & Wildlife Service had been planning to lift federal protections for another group of approximately 1,000 bears living in Montana's Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness, but was waiting to see how Christensen ruled in the Yellowstone case.

Criminal Prosecution Awaiting Killer of Pregnant Dolphin in Mississippi

Someone shot and killed a pregnant bottlenose dolphin in Mississippi -- and there's a big reward for anyone who helps find her killer.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the pregnant dolphin was found dead on a beach in Waveland, Mississippi, in April of this year. A necropsy revealed that the mother dolphin died of a gunshot wound from a small caliber bullet. Her unborn calf then died as a result of the mother's death.

Dolphins are protected under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. The Act prohibits harassing, harming, killing, and feeding wild dolphins. Violations are punishable by up to $100,000 in fines and one year in prison per violation. It was not clear whether the killing of a pregnant dolphin and her unborn calf would constitute one violation or two.

According to NOAA, several wildlife organizations are offering a combined reward of $11,500 for information leading to the identification and/or prosecution of those responsible. Anyone with information is asked to call either the NOAA Enforcement Hotline at (800) 853-1964 or NOAA's Slidell (Louisiana) Enforcement Field Office at (985) 643-6232. Tips can be left anonymously, but contact information must be provided in order to claim the reward.

NOAA reports that violence against dolphins in the Northern Gulf of Mexico region has been on the rise in recent years. Since 2002, at least 24 dolphins have been found stranded showing evidence of being shot with guns or arrows or being impaled with other objects. Sixty-eight percent of those strandings have occurred since 2010.

NOAA is also asking for the public's help in preventing future harm to dolphins by not feeding or attempting to feed them from boats or the shore. Dolphins who are fed by people learn to associate humans with food and put themselves in dangerous situations when they approach people, boats, and fishing gear looking for food. They can learn to approach fishing gear and teach this behavior to their young. Such behavior has, in some cases, resulted in violence toward dolphins by fishermen frustrated by the loss of their catch.

False Certifications Lead to Criminal Convictions

A pallet recycling company and its former owner were sentenced for criminal violations related to the falsification of certificate stamps in violation of the Plant Protection Act by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, according to a Justice Department press release.  American Pallet Recycling LLC (APR) will pay a fine of $100,000, and its former president and owner, Raymond Viola, will pay $1,000 and serve three years of probation, after relinquishing the business to his son.  APR plead guilty to one felony count of falsifying stamps that certified wood pallets were heat treated to prevent pest infestation, and were suitable for use in international transportation.  Viola plead guilty to a similar misdemeanor count.

Heat treatment is required in order to prevent parasites and plant diseases from entering the United States in wood packaging materials.  Wood pallets that carry products transported within the United States are not required to be heat treated.  From March 2007 through January 2011, Viola created copies of stamp certifications used by legitimate wood pallet treating companies, which he and his employees applied to pallets APR sold.  Those pallets were then used to carry products from the United States to foreign countries in violation of the Plant Protection Act.  The charges against APR and Viola involved the fraudulent stamp certification of hundreds of untreated wood pallets that were sold to other companies for use in product export.

Pritchett Environmental & Property Law reopens

After a few years back in a big law firm, Rebecca Pritchett has decided to reopen Pritchett Environmental & Property Law LLC in order to gain the flexibility to take advantage of an opportunity to expand her environmental and oil & gas practices.  Following her 7+-year tenure on the State Oil & Gas Board, Rebecca was unable to represent clients before the Board for a period of time pursuant to state ethics laws.  We now look forward to expanding our oil & gas practice and continuing to serve our new and long-standing environmental clients.

Rebecca Pritchett included in The Best Lawyers in America 2014

Rebecca Pritchett has again been selected for inclusion in the most recent edition of The Best Lawyers in America in the areas of Environmental Law and Litigation - Environmental. Inclusion in Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer-reviews.  According to the company, "[t]he methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area."

EPA Tests Anniston Ditches for PCBs

The EPA recently finished testing ditches on the west side of Anniston for PCBs.  The agency expects to let residents know the results of those tests shortly.

Over the past decade, Anniston lawns and parks were tested and cleared of PCBs deposited over decades of heavy industry in the city.  But until now, no one had checked the ditches that border the lawns where contaminated soil has been removed.

In previous years, the Calhoun County Highway Department has insisted that it was unable to maintain the ditches because it did not want to church contaminants that might have settled there.  Leaving the ditches crowded with vegetation caused the west side of Anniston to become prone to flooding, according to a memo written by David Pirritano, Calhoun County environmental enforcement officer.  “If the right-of-way storm water ditches are contaminated and flooding takes place there is the possibility that sites … could be recontaminated as well as clean properties that didn’t contain pollutions to begin with,” the December 8, 2011 memo states.

That is unlikely, according to Yucheng Feng, a professor of environmental soil microbiology at Auburn University  Feng said that PCBs are not easily dissolved in water, and are more likely to cling to sediment and soil, making it unlikely that it would leave the ditches.  However, the likelihood that PCBs remain in the ditches is strong, she said.

If PCBs are around in the ditches at concentrations deemed to be harmful to human health, EPA has told the county that it will remove the contaminated soil.

For more, see the Anniston Star article here.

Prison Sentence for Asbestos Violations

We've warned about improper asbestos handling and removal before.  Here's another example of why.

A man convicted last year of illegally removing, handling and disposing of asbestos at a Kankakee, Illinois building has been sentenced to ten years in federal prison.  According to an EPA press release, Duane "Butch" O'Malley was also ordered to pay more than $47,000 to the EPA related to the cleanup, plus a $15,000 fine.

Prosecutors said employees of O'Malley's company, Origin Fire Protection, removed asbestos from insulation, loaded it in unmarked bags and dumped the bags in an open field.