The draft report released today by the South Carolina Department of Transportation, which describes the environmental impacts of the proposed Mark Clark Expressway, fails to consider alternatives that are far less harmful and less costly than building a major interstate through communities, open-space areas, and marshes west of the Ashley River in the Stono River watershed
The federal moratorium announced July 12 pauses risky deepwater drilling operations until safety and environmental safeguards can be assessed.
After a rare female loggerhead sea turtle was dragged and killed by an off-road vehicle while attempting to nest at night on the beaches of Cape Hatteras National Seashore, conservation groups request improved protections for nesting turtles threatened by ORVs.
Environmental groups expressed disappointment over a federal district court decision today to halt a six-month federal moratorium on new deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico that would have allowed for safety reviews after the loss of life in the Deepwater Horizon explosion and ongoing deepwater oil spill damaging the Gulf Coast.
The Minerals Management Service (MMS) continues to approve new leases after the Deepwater Horizon explosion that give British Petroleum and other companies the right to drill even more deepwater wells in the Gulf of Mexico under the same inadequate oversight that led to the current oil spill, according to a new legal challenge filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center and Defenders of Wildlife. The groups say current policies create an incentive to allow drilling even in the face of evident risks because once a lease is issued by MMS, the U.S. government is obligated to pay the lessee either the fair market value of the lease or the amount spent to obtain the bid plus costs and interest if the government cancels the lease or refuses to allow drilling.
The Southern Environmental Law Center commends the Obama Administration for cancelling the oil and gas drilling lease sale proposed for 3 million acres off the coast of Virginia, but urges the Administration to permanently ban drilling in the Mid- and South Atlantic, as well as the eastern Gulf.
The Southern Environmental Law Center and Defenders of Wildlife today notified BP that they would file suit against the company for the unauthorized take of endangered species caused by the continuing oil spill and use of dispersants.
Defenders of Wildlife and the Southern Environmental Law Center today filed suit challenging the Minerals Management Service’s (MMS) complicity in the Gulf oil disaster and continued lax oversight of oil drilling operations, including its failure to require a thorough examination of spill risks from exploratory drilling operations like the Deepwater Horizon.
National Audubon Society, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Southern Environmental Law Center yesterday submitted comments regarding the National Park Service’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on Cape Hatteras National Seashore’s Off-road Vehicle Management Plan.
SELC says Department of Interior acted appropriately in suspending the Virginia offshore drilling lease sale in light of the catastrophic blowout and oil spill in the Gulf, but that a permanent ban on new drilling is needed.
The state must examine all public health and environmental impacts of a proposed Titan America cement plant near Wilmington, N.C. before any state permits for the plant can be issued, according to an order issued by Judge Donald Stephens of Wake County Superior Court in a case brought by conservation groups representing residents of the affected area.
As oil continues to spill and reaches the Gulf’s white sands, shrimp and fish nurseries, and productive wetlands and marshes, the Southern Environmental Law Center today called on the Obama Administration to go beyond a temporary stay of new drilling hinging on investigation and discontinue plans to expand risky oil drilling to the South Atlantic and eastern Gulf of Mexico coastlines for a few months supply of oil.
The U.S. Minerals and Management Service (MMS) is holding a public hearing in Norfolk today as it starts the process of reviewing the environmental impacts of conducting seismic studies that would be used to support offshore energy development in the Mid- and South-Atlantic. The Southern Environmental Law Center believes that instead of putting our exceptional coastal resources and communities at tremendous risk in order to extract a minimal supply of carbon-based fuels, we should pursue strong public policies that promote energy efficiency, including reducing transportation fuel consumption through improved vehicle mileage and implementing better land-use development patterns.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers late last week rescinded an earlier decision to remove federal protections for 492 acres of wetlands in Black Tom Bay near Charleston and informed the developer that waters subject to Clean Water Act protections exist on the property located within the Ashley River watershed.
SELC welcomes the introduction of a bi-partisan compromise in the U.S. House of Representatives that restores long overdue protections for streams and wetlands.
Opening much of the U.S. East Coast for the first time to oil and gas drilling risks too much for the South.
The White House today released an updated plan for offshore oil and gas drilling that includes a three million acre area off Virginia's coast -- the first ever drilling allowed off the U.S. Atlantic coast--and extends potential drilling to the rest of the Atlantic, focusing on the southern states. The Virginia lease sale, just north of North Carolina and at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, puts at risk some of America's richest marine life and coastal resources, which are the backbone of many coastal economies, generating billions of dollars in revenues from tourism, recreation, and commercial fishing.
Conservation groups are studying proposed rules released today by the National Park Service to govern off-road vehicle use at Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
Conservation groups today notified the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of their intent to challenge its decision that no permits are required under the federal Clean Water Act before the development of approximately 500 acres of South Carolina wetlands in Black Tom Bay.
Conservation groups today challenged the U.S. Navy’s decision to build its $100 million Undersea Warfare Training Range next to the only known calving ground for the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.
Despite opposition from fishermen, birders, local residents and two federal agencies, the Corps of Engineers illegally issued a permit for a proposed commercial marina in waters just north of Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia Beach, according to a lawsuit filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center today in the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC.
Groups today appealed to Wake County Superior Court for a comprehensive review of public health and environmental impacts from the proposed Titan America cement plant after a N.C. Department of Administration ruling allowed the plant to go forward without such a review.
Six conservation groups today called on the NCDOT to build a safer, less-exposed emergency route for Outer Banks residents and tourists that is not dependent on the section of Highway 12 in Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge which was washed out last week during the remnants of tropical storm Ida.
A federal judge declined to enjoin construction of a container shipping terminal in North Charleston for now, but agreed to expand a lawsuit challenging approvals of the terminal to include the FHWA as a defendant.
Governor Perdue’s Department of Administration this week ruled that the full environmental impact of the proposed Titan America cement plant on surrounding areas--including New Hanover, Pender and Brunswick counties—does not need to be examined before North Carolina begins issuing permits for the plant.
In a letter to the EPA, SELC reveals major discharges of fish waste, comparable to the level of pollution discharged from D.C.'s huge Blue Plains wastewater treatment plant to the Bay.
As the 2009 nesting season ends at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, National Park Service reports indicate rare birds and sea turtles benefited in the second breeding season after an April 2008 consent agreement increased park protections for baby birds and sea turtles endangered by ORVs.
SELC today filed comments that urged the Obama Administration to protect the Atlantic coast and beaches of the South rather than drilling for the small amount of oil offshore.
The S.C. Supreme Court will review a challenge to state permits for the proposed container terminal at the Charleston Navy Base brought by the SELC on behalf of the Coastal Conservation League.
Environmental groups today asked the N.C. Department of Administration to rule whether the proposed Titan America cement plant’s environmental impact on surrounding areas must be examined before the state begins issuing permits.
U.S. Senator Hagan (D-NC) joined U.S. Senator Burr (R-NC) in a legislative move to withdraw national park protections for baby birds and sea turtles endangered by off-road vehicles.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia ruled that a logging company broke the law when it built a road and filled in wetlands without acquiring a proper permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers under the Clean Water Act.
U.S. Navy proceeds with construction of its Undersea Warfare Training Range without first obtaining the required approvals for the whole project.
The Southern Environmental Law Center and S.C. Coastal Conservation League today asked a federal court in Charleston to delay construction of a container cargo terminal until the Federal Highway Administration evaluates whether 10,000 vehicles a day can be added safely to I-26, and whether rail options could divert cargo and prevent interstate gridlock.
The U.S. Navy's plans to use a marine area comprised of a protected area for snapper-grouper and adjacent to the only known calving ground for endangered North Atlantic right whales as an undersea warfare training range fail to adequately consider harmful environmental impacts.
In a major step toward reversing years of attacks on wetlands and water protections, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee today passed the Clean Water Restoration Act (S.787) by a 12-7 vote.
The Environmental Protection Agency last night backed away from its earlier finding that an 11,000 acre mine expansion by PCS Phosphate posed “unacceptable harm” to critical wetlands and fisheries in the nation’s second largest estuary, the Albemarle-Pamlico, according to environmental groups. After elevating the permit to the national level in a rare move, EPA could have vetoed the destruction of 1,200 acres of the most critical wetlands and nurseries while still allowing continued mining by the company for 29 years.
Environmental groups today urged the Environmental Protection Agency to veto the mining of almost 1200 acres of critical wetlands and nurseries while still allowing continued PCS Phosphate mining of 11,000 acres in the Albemarle-Pamlico estuary after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to address serious concerns about irreversible harm during a rare national elevation of the mining permit.
Protection of North Carolina’s economic diversity, natural wealth and people hinges on the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Southern Environmental Law Center, Defenders of Wildlife, and the National Audubon Society today stepped in to defend the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s decision to designate portions of Cape Hatteras National Seashore and Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge as critical habitat for wintering piping plovers.
For decades, the Clean Water Act has broadly protected America’s lakes, rivers, streams, and drinking water sources from unregulated pollution and destruction, rescuing them from the dire straits they were in during the late 1960s and early 1970s. But because of a concerted effort by polluters and developers, and muddied rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court, up to 60 percent (at least 15,000 important waters) have lost these vital protections and countless other waters (including more than 50 percent of our streams and 20 million acres of wetlands) are at risk of losing protections.
A federal court has overturned a permit issued by the Corps of Engineers for a massive impoundment in King William County, Virginia that would have resulted in the single largest, authorized loss of wetlands in the mid-Atlantic region in the last 37 years.
Rare decision reflects the agency’s determination that the project would cause harm to a nationally important body of water.
SELC has challenged a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers go-ahead to fill one of the largest remaining intact wetlands in an area near Murrells Inlet, South Carolina.
A permit issued by the N.C. Division of Water Quality illegally approves the largest destruction of wetlands in the state’s history by PCS Phosphate, according to papers filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center today in state administrative court. The permit presumes the state will write new rules that accommodate the company’s ambitions.
A joint statement from SELC, Audubon NC and Defenders of Wildlife on the conclusion of negotiated rulemaking for off road vehicle use in Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
The Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of itself and three organizations, has called on the U.S. Department of Interior to abandon plans to open the Virginia coast to oil or gas drilling.
The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), the largest environmental advocacy organization dedicated solely to protecting the Southeast, today announced a list of ten special places in the South that face immediate, potentially irreparable threats in 2009.
The Georgia Supreme Court today issued a ruling in a case against the Coastal Marshlands Protection Committee of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which centered on a permit granted to the developer of Cumberland Harbour.
