Wind Farm Developers Agree To Endangered Whale Protections. According to E&E News, “Developers of a large-scale offshore wind farm today promised to take steps to protect endangered right whales when they install 84 turbines off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. Environmental groups said they had reached an ‘unprecedented agreement’ with Vineyard Wind, the company that wants to provide enough power for more than 400,000 homes. Under the agreement, Vineyard Wind will curtail turbine construction in the winter and early spring when the North Atlantic right whales might be in the area. The company also agreed to new vessel speed limits and to dampen construction noise that could hurt the whales’ ability to communicate and find food. In addition, Vineyard Wind said it would spend $3 million on research to develop new technologies aimed at providing more safeguards for marine mammals. The company reached the agreement with the Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Wildlife Federation and the Conservation Law Foundation. They said they hope the agreement will provide ‘an important template’ for other offshore wind projects in the future. ‘Scaling up offshore wind in wildlife-friendly ways is essential to confronting the climate crisis,’ said Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. ‘By ensuring that offshore wind power is responsibly built and operated, this model agreement is a win-win for conserving wildlife and creating well-paying jobs.’” [E&E News, 1/23/19 (=)]

 

Wind Project Partners With Environmentalists On Rare Whales. According to Associated Press, “The developer of an offshore wind energy project is partnering with environmental groups on a plan to try to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale. The whale is one of the rarest marine mammals. It’s thought to number only 411 individuals . The animals travel through New England waters every year. Vineyard Wind, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Wildlife Federation and the Conservation Law Foundation announced an agreement designed to protect the whales on Wednesday. Vineyard Wind’s piece of the agreement involves instituting protective measures while installing and operating turbines as part of a proposed 84-turbine project off Massachusetts. The developer and the groups say construction will be curtailed in the winter and early spring, which is when the whales tend to visit New England waters.” [Associated Press, 1/23/19 (=)]

 

Mega-Development Would Threaten The Florida Panther’s Very Survival. According to Miami Herald, “With some of the most powerful back legs of all the world’s big cats, Florida panthers can cover an astonishing 45 feet in a single bound when chasing prey or avoiding danger. But those remarkable skills are no match for the panther’s chief predator and cause of premature death: automobiles. In 2018 alone, 26 of these beautiful animals — considered to be among the world’s most endangered mammals — were run down while trying to cross the state’s choked roads. An analysis of 175 Florida panther deaths between 2014 and 2018 indicated that 101 of the big cats were killed in Collier County, the majority by vehicles. That’s why a proposal from large landowners in eastern Collier County to plop a mega-development right in the middle of some of the panther’s most important remaining habitat is so insane.” [Miami Herald, 1/23/19 (+)]

 

Wolves On A Divided Landscape. According to Flathead Beacon, “Wolves are complex critters that for centuries have inspired myths and legends while generating fierce controversies, an animal whose presence on the landscape is at once magical and maddening, captivating wildlife lovers while commanding condemnation from hunters who say the population of predators is decimating the bounty of big game in Montana. Livestock producers living on the wild edges of wolf country have their own set of challenges, forced to keep constant vigil over calving pastures that serve as a veritable beef buffet for a pack of predators. And wildlife managers with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP), the agency tasked with implementing regulatory mechanisms to manage wolves following delisting of the species from the Endangered Species Act in 2011, which granted the state full management authority of its wolf population, are caught in the middle, seeking to strike a delicate balance amid competing interests that remain bitterly divided. In Northwest Montana, which comprises FWP’s predator-rich Region 1, the controversy surrounding wolves has reached a fever pitch in recent months, coming on the heels of yet another season of below-normal hunting harvests of deer, elk and moose.” [Flathead Beacon, 1/23/19 (=)]

 

Op-Ed: Border Walls Already Take A Toll On Wildlife. According to The Hill, “Two years ago, along the southern border west of El Paso, a Mexican gray wolf loped north through the Chihuahuan Desert and into the United States. A few days later, unable to find a mate, he returned to Mexico. Today, an 18-foot-high steel barrier could block his path. Sections of President Trump’s border wall built in recent weeks slice through 20 miles of this remote New Mexico desert, where a creature’s ability to traverse vast distances can be a matter of life and death. Mexican wolves are one of the most endangered mammals on the continent, with just 114 in New Mexico and Arizona and a few dozen across the border in Sonora, Mexico. With a narrow gene pool, their long-term survival may hinge on crossing the border to find mates, just as they did for thousands of years. Wolves are hardly the only wildlife threatened by the border wall. The new bollard-style barriers in New Mexico also obstruct the movements of kit foxes, cougars and ringtail cats. The walls fragment their populations and increase the risks of inbreeding. That’s why the border ‘fence’ vs. border ‘wall’ debate simmering in Washington, D.C., during the government shutdown vexes anyone who’s seen a border wall up close. It’s a distinction without a difference. They’re the same thing.” [The Hill, 1/23/19 (+)]

 

 

Please do not respond to this email.

If you have questions or comments please contact mitch@beehivedc.com