2011 topped the records for the number of extreme weather events costing more than 1 billion dollars – we had 12 such events in 2011 totaling almost $200 billion. NASA’s two latest climate reports contain mind boggling conclusions.  The first report uses conservative temperature data from the IPCC, and predicts that by 2100 around 40 percent of our major ecological communities – places like forests, tundra, and grasslands – will be dominated by a different ecological community.  In other words, if you live near a forest, it could become a desert by 2100, or if you live near tundra, it could be transformed into a grassland by 2100.  The second report, relying on paleoclimate data analyzed by top climate scientist Dr. Jim Hansen, paints a harsh reality of what even a two-degree average increase in temperature will mean for our planet. Closer to home and more specific to Oregon, a senior Department of Interior official warned a Congressional subcommittee about the impacts from climate change on the water supplies of western states that rely upon snowpack to provide fresh water.

So, that’s enough about the darkness – where’s the light?  It seems to be stemming from the next generation.  Youth leaders are stepping up all around our country, and the world, to express their concerns over climate change.  A young U.S. woman interrupted the latest climate change negotiations out of fear for her future putting the U.S. Congress and Administration on the spot for not moving the negotiations forward.  Youth in Canada danced in protest of their government’s decision to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol.

Of course, youth here in Oregon and around the U.S. and the world took the courts last May to demand that the government protect their future from the harmful impacts of climate change. Led by Alec Loorz of Kids versus Global warming and Our Children’s Trust, these members of the next generation are also an amazing inspiration.

Nelson Kanuk on the Kuskokwim River, Kipnuk, Alaska. Photo by Christi Cooper-Kuhn and Kelly Matheson, courtesy of iMatter.org

Our Children’s Trust, the iMatter Campaign, and Witness just released the most recent video of one such climate leader who is involved in a legal case launched last May.  Trust Alaska documents the life and struggles of Nelson Kanuk and native subsistence people along Alaska’s rapidly eroding coastline.  Nelson’s dedication to his family, their traditional way of life, and to sustaining the planet and his home is a true inspiration. Please share it with your friends and family, and may it help light the seasons to come.

© 2011 John Hyde/AlaskaStock.com Blurred motion view of a wolf in *black phase* running in the Tongass National Forest, Southeast, Alaska during Winter

Crag recently won a key victory in the fight to preserve old-growth forest and wildlife habitat in the Tongass National Forest.  In the case – Greenpeace v. Cole – the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals threw out four old-growth timber sales that would have logged important habitat for the rare Alexander Archipelago wolf.  Crag filed the case on behalf of Greenpeace, Inc. and Cascadia Wildlands.

The Tongass contains some of the most magnificent old-growth forests remaining in the United States, and these forests are laid out across both the mainland as well as a network of coastal islands known as the Alexander Archipelago.  These coastal rainforests provide irreplaceable habitat for the wolf, a unique subspecies of the gray wolf, which can swim from island to island and dens in old-growth forest near salmon streams and fresh water.

The Forest Service was using a computer model to estimate impacts to wolves and deer, but the model suffered from numerous errors that greatly underestimated the damage done to these old-growth dependent species.  In a unanimous decision, the three-judge panel rejected four separate timber sales, which collectively would have logged over 1,700 acres of old-growth forest.  The Court recognized that the Forest Service was ignoring the best available science on how old-growth logging affects wolves and deer, instead relying on inaccurate and outdated data.

Years of intensive old-growth logging and road building have caused significant declines in wolf populations in the Tongass, and the errors identified by the Court have also plagued every other sale approved by the Forest Service in this area from 1996 to 2008.  For years, Greenpeace and others attempted to bring their concerns directly to the federal government, but the Forest Service refused to acknowledge the best available science or admit the errors in its computer models.  After running out of options, Greenpeace contacted Crag and moved forward with court action as a last resort.

Chris Winter, staff attorney and Co-Executive Director, handled the case for Crag and its clients.  Winter said, “The Forest Service ignored the best available science on the impacts of clearcutting old-growth forest in the Tongass.  The court issued a common sense decision requiring more from our federal government.”

For more information, the read the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals opinion and the press release distributed by Greenpeace and Cascadia Wildlands.

Late last week, the Environmental Appeals Board (EAB or Board) in Washington, DC rejected two air permits issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to Shell Oil for proposed offshore drilling projects in the Arctic.  The Crag Law Center represented local Inupiat organizations in the case, including the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission and the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, a federally recognized tribal government.

Shell’s offshore drilling proposal would emit thousands of tons of pollutants into the pristine air sheds of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, including nitrous oxides, particular matter, and carbon dioxide.  The local communities already suffer from high rates of respiratory diseases like asthma, and they are concerned that the additional pollution will contribute to public health concerns on the North Slope.

In an important victory for the local communities, the EAB sent the permits back to EPA Region 10.  The Board held that EPA Region 10 failed to address the local community’s environmental justice concerns and the potential health impacts of NOx emissions.  In issuing the permits, EPA Region10 relied on outdated standards and science that were almost 15 years old in concluding that the drilling operations and NOx emissions posed no threat to the health of local people.  The Board returned the permits to Region 10 of EPA noting the local communities’ use of offshore areas for subsistence purposes and asking Region 10 to incorporate the most recent scientific information before concluding that Shell’s proposed operations are safe for the local community.

The EAB also overturned Region 10’s determination of when the 514 foot drillship becomes a source subject to permit requirements.  In the permits, Region 10 allowed Shell to unilaterally determine when the drillship becomes a source and therefore when the permit requirements begin to apply to Shell’s operations.  The Board noted that EPA had no way to verify Shell’s decision and that the agency had inappropriately delegated its regulatory authority over air quality to a private oil company.

Shell had previously announced plans to drill at least one well in the Beaufort Sea in 2011, but those plans are now up in the air because of the EAB decision.  This is the second time that Shell’s air permits have been rejected by the Environmental Appeals Board, and there is no current timetable for when EPA Region 10 will be able to reissue draft permits for public comment.

To download and review the decision, click here: 12-30-2010 Order Denying in part and Remanding in Full

The Crag Law Center today filed a legal challenge to an offshore exploration plan approved by the Minerals Management Service in the Beaufort Sea in Alaska.  Crag is working with local Native groups, including the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, a regional tribal government, and the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, a non-profit representing local subsistence whaling captains.

The proposed oil drilling activities would be located directly in the middle of the migration route for the endangered bowhead whale, the most important subsistence resource for the Inupiat Eskimos of the northern Alaska.  The project would also involve air pollution equivalent to the annual emissions of 3.5 million cars, and the discharge of millions of gallons of wastewater and toxic pollutants.

The case follows up on a prior challenge to an earlier exploration plan proposed by Shell in 2007.  In that case, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals set aside MMS’s approval because MMS failed to adequately disclose impacts to subsistence and the bowhead whale.  This year, MMS has again moved forward with a cursory environmental assessment instead of a more thorough environmental impact statement.  MMS also removed protections for the bowhead whale that were imposed by the National Marine Fisheries Service in 2007.

Moreover, this year Shell plans to drill in both the Beaufort and Chukchi Sea, whereas in 2007 Shell wanted to drill only in the Beaufort.  MMS disregarded the potential cumulative impacts from two operations, which would both be located in the middle of the bowhead migration during the fall.

The press release is available here.

The legal documents are here.