Environmental Report Card: Obama Gets "C-" for First Half of Term

[tabatha]

Environmental Report Card: Obama Gets "C-" for First Half of Term

TUCSON, Ariz.— In a report card released today, the Center for Biological Diversity gave President Obama a grade of C- for his two-year environmental record. The report card chronicles positive and negative policies on endangered species, climate, energy, public lands and oceans.

“Barak Obama is no George Bush, but he’s no Theodore Roosevelt either,” said Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center. “His environment record is pretty dismal, considering all the promised hope and change.”

Among Obama’s bright spots were a declaration under the Clean Air Act that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare, the designation of 120 million acres of protected “critical habitat” for polar bears and the reinstatement of protection for millions of acres of roadless lands. Negatives include a continuation of damaging Bush-era policies on polar bears and offshore oil drilling, stripping of federal protection for and killing of endangered wolves, and his failure to lead either Congress or other nations toward strong global warming policies.

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2011/report-card-01-21-2011.html


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Pesticides and U.S. Endangered Species

The Center for Biological Diversity and Pesticide Action Network North America have filed the most comprehensive legal action ever taken to protect endangered species from harmful pesticides. On Jan. 20, 2011, the groups sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for registering and approving hundreds of pesticides known to harm imperiled species. The lawsuit seeks protection for 214 threatened or endangered species in 49 states and two U.S. territories.

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/pesticides_reduction/national_map/index.html