Sen. Inhofe: Big Oil's MVP

Did you know the American Petroleum Institute puts out a legislative scorecard and voter guide? I didn't ... until it was uncovered by National Wildlife Federation researchers. Turns out Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) got a perfect score.

That goes a long way towards explaining why Sen. Inhofe is organizing a rare boycott today as the top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee. Sen. Inhofe must be concerned that Republicans outside of his committee may be willing to craft a bipartisan compromise on energy legislation. Basically, Sen. Inhofe has decided his committee members will take their ball and go home, organizing the Republican members of his committee to skip out on this week’s markup of the Clean Energy Jobs & American Power Act and obstruct the overall legislative process.

“Senator Inhofe has taken his team off the field before the real action has even started. Behind the scenes, you can be sure Big Oil is giving Sen. Inhofe a standing ovation,” said Jeremy Symons, senior vice president of the National Wildlife Federation. “The oil industry has led a multi-million dollar assault on clean energy legislation to protect its profits at the expense of America’s energy security. Now, Sen. Inhofe is once again coming through in the clutch for Big Oil.”

To commemorate Sen. Inhofe’s status as Big Oil's MVP, the National Wildlife Federation has issued a limited-edition trading card with some of Sen. Inhofe’s career milestones. Check it out:

Among the highlights:

• Sen. Inhofe and his leadership PAC have received $2,182,631 from the oil & gas industries since 1998, according to OpenSecrets.org. During that time, America’s foreign oil imports have increased 21 percent.

• Sen. Inhofe has increased his oil & gas industry contribution yield each campaign cycle, finishing among the Senate league leaders in 2008.

• Sen. Inhofe took to the Senate floor in 2003 to call global warming “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.”

“The Clean Energy Jobs Act will ease our dependency on oil, create new jobs by investing in made-in-America clean energy, and reduce pollution to protect our children’s future,” said Jeremy Symons. “Senators should roll up their sleeves and show up to work on the energy reform America needs now.”

Boxer Reaches Out to Republicans on Clean Energy Bill

Via Talking Points Memo, late breaking news on the Clean Energy Jobs Act:

Faced with the GOP plan, [Senate Environment & Public Works Committee Chair Barbara] Boxer said the Democrat majority on the committee decided to "reach our hand across the aisle" and accommodate some of the GOP concerns.

Boxer will begin the markup as planned Tuesday, but will extend the deadline for amendments until "the close of business" that day, allowing Republicans who have boycotted the process to participate past the original deadline.

In addition, Boxer said she'll pause the markup process tomorrow afternoon and invite an EPA official to come before the committee and answer any and all remaining questions about the cap-and-trade bill Republicans may have.

Now that Boxer has addressed their concerns, will Republicans come to the table to negotiate the real reform America has been waiting for? We'll find out on Tuesday.

Amazing Video of Deep-Sea Dazzlers

Can you believe this creature is a native of Earth? Looks like one of the aliens from The Abyss:

Wildlife Vampires - Part 4

This is the the final post in our series on wildlife vampires. Be sure to check out:

• Part One

• Part two

• Part three

Happy Halloween! We've saved the best for last.

There are several species of diminutive candiru catfish that inhabit South American rivers. They seek out larger fish and use their spiny mouths to attach themselves to the gills of their victims, where they make an incision with their teeth and drink their fill of fish blood.

Candiru also have spines on the body which they jab into the flesh of their victim, making any attempt at forcible removal extremely painful.

Some species actually burrow inside the bodies of their prey, leaving a wound that looks like a bullet hole. Once inside they suck blood from the internal organs. Few things are more horrifying than even the thought of that!

VIDEO: Watch this video of the candiru from the BBC:

Congress gives Interior programs a treat

Yesterday, Congress handed out a giant treat to agencies charged with protecting and managing our nation's wildlife and natural resources. The House and Senate have approved a $32.2 billion Interior and Environment Appropriations bill -- a $4.7 billion increase over 2009 funding levels -- which gives a much needed boost to conservation programs across the board and provides agencies the resources they need to take on new climate change initiatives. The bill includes:

$450 million to protect lands for conservation, recreation, and wildlife habitat under the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

$641 million to protect the nation's Great Bodies of Water, including the Chesapeake Bay, Puget Sound, Long Island Sound, Gulf of Mexico, Lake Champlain, and Lake Pontchartrain. $475 million of this money will go toward Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

$385 million for programs that address global climate change, including $67 million for priority climate change research at the U.S. Geological Survey, $15 million for USGS's National Global Warming and Wildlife Science Center, which will help safeguard wildlife threatened by climate change, and $55 million for on-the-ground monitoring and climate safeguards in national parks, national wildlife refuges, and other public lands.

$90 million for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's State and Tribal Wildlife Grants Program, which provides state wildlife agencies and their partners a broad suite of proactive conservation tools.

$503.3 million for the National Wildlife Refuge System to provide critically needed staff, implement climate change strategies, and improve conservation efforts.

Here's what NWF's Legislative Director, Corry Westbrook, had to say about the news

"Like a shot of adrenalin, this bill will breathe new life into our nation's conservation programs.For too long, key conservation programs and agencies and have been shortchanged and undercut. Congress has reached the bar set by President Obama by delivering the best Interior appropriations bill we have seen in years.

Wildlife Vampires - Part 3

This is the third post in our series about real life wildlife vampires.  Click here for part one and part two.

Oxpeckers and Vampire Finches

There are several bird species that form symbiotic relationships with larger animals.  The larger animals tolerate the birds’ presence on their bodies, leaving the birds free to feast upon ticks and other parasites that are lodged in the skin feeding upon the animals’ blood.  It’s a win-win situation. But oxpeckers are birds that take it one step further.  Not only do they feed upon parasitic invertebrates, they are happy to consume bits of flesh and blood of their host animals while they’re at it. 

Vampire finches inhabit the Galapagos Islands and supplement their diet of seeds, insects and nectar with the blood of other birds, usually the blue-footed booby.  They peck a hole in the flesh of the booby to get the larger bird’s blood and strangely, the boobies hardly seem to notice.

Leeches

Few animals evoke the “icky-creepies” in people as much as worms do with their slimy squirminess and their faceless, legless bodies.  When such a creature also feeds upon human blood, it only adds to the horror factor.  Such is the case with leeches.  These parasitic worms attach themselves to their host and bloat themselves on blood.  While most leeches are external parasites, some species will swim into nasal cavities and stay there, feeding and growing. Capable of holding undigested blood in their stomachs, parasitic leeches can go months between feedings.

VIDEO: Watch some leeches in action!

Oxpecker Photo:http://www.flickr.com/photos/arnolouise/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

Boxer Pushes to Move Senate Climate Bill Forward

Denier in chief Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) is threatening to try to block the Clean Energy Jobs & American Power Act, the historic clean energy & climate legislation before the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee. But Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) isn't taking no for an answer:

Responding to the Republican complaints, Boxer insisted that she is holding "an unprecedented number of legislative hearings" on the climate bill, with more than 50 witnesses who have been asked to offer their comments after reading the entire 923-page proposal.

"We have an analysis that I'd say is one of the most thorough ever done," Boxer said.

The California Democrat said U.S. EPA took two weeks to study her proposal, and she also lumped in the five weeks that the agency took this spring to analyze H.R. 2454 (pdf), the House bill written by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.).

Have you contacted your senator to urge them to pass strong clean energy & climate legislation this year? It only takes a minute through our Climate Action Center. From polar bears to panthers, wildlife will thank you for it!

Hearing Raises New Questions About Coal Lobby Group

The House Select Committee for Eneregy Independence & Global Warming held a hearing this morning on the coal lobby letter fraud. A firm called Bonner & Associates sent phony letters to three members of Congress opposing the American Clean Energy & Security Act that passed the House in June.

But as Mother Jones' Kate Sheppard reports, there are now new questions about whether the head of a coal lobby group may have lied under oath:

In testimony before Congress on Thursday, Steve Miller, CEO for American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a major coal industry lobby group, stated under oath that his organization "has never opposed the Waxman-Markey bill."

But ACCCE's previous statements indicate otherwise. On the day that the House passed the legislation, Miller himself issued a press release stating, "ACCCE cannot support this bill, as it is written because the legislation still does not adequately protect consumers and the domestic economy."

You can read much more on today's TPM hearing liveblog.

And don't forget, if you think you may be a victim of similar forgeries, you can contact our Polluter Fraud Tipline.

Wildlife Vampires - Part 2

Here's the second post in our series about real life wildlife vampires....

Mosquitoes

For mosquitoes, it’s the ladies who are the bloodsuckers.  Both sexes feed on flower nectar as their main source of nutrients.  Only when she’s ready to reproduce does the female mosquito seek out a blood meal.  She needs the added protein boost in order to lay her eggs and create a whole new generation of lady vampires.

Lampreys

These eel-like creatures are something right out of science fiction horror.  Their disc-shaped mouths are filled with circles of razor-sharp teeth, which they use to bore into the flesh of their victims.  They can remain attached for days or even weeks, all the while sucking in blood and body fluids.  One species, the sea lamprey, has been introduced into the Great Lakes where it has become a problematic invasive exotic species.  This lamprey can grow to almost 2 feet in length and the native lake fish it feeds upon often don’t survive the draining.

VIDEO: Lampreys don't typically bother humans, but not always.

Even scary wildlife isn’t safe from habitat destruction, global warming, pollution and other human-caused problems. Read more about real life wildlife vampires at nwf.org/nationalwildlife.

Mining Around a "Grand" American Treasure

The development of uranium mining around the Grand Canyon has been a tug of war between mining companies, local residents and government agencies.

While visitors to the Grand Canyon area see impressive vistas, rock formations and wildlife populations, some of these companies see an opportunity for destructive and consumptive land use.

Fortunately, Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, restored protection of this one million-acre area surrounding the Grand Canyon again this July. The ban restricts all new uranium mining projects for a two-year period in which the U.S. Department of the Interior will evaluate mining impacts on the lands.

Mining companies claim that because their projects must follow Clean Water Act and National Environmental Policy Act standards, they are safe. Yet no total assessment of uranium mining in the Grand Canyon area has been undertaken until now.

Although an exploration permit does not guarantee actual drilling will be approved, Grand Canyon admirers and residents of the area have every reason to be concerned with the impacts of mining. The canyon is one of our nation's most impressive natural destinations and it’s disheartening to think this refuge for wildlife and outdoor activists alike is not free from harmful mining practices.

One tributary of the Colorado River--Horn Creek--is under investigation due to its high radioactive levels. The Colorado River is not just a stream meandering along the Grand Canyon, it also provides water to millions of people and wildlife surrounding the desert area.

Not only is the radioactivity of water a concern, but also the leaching of mercury and arsenic from these mines. Residents relying on water from the Colorado River can't settle for an answer that its "safe enough" until a proper assessment is done.

There has been an outpouring of support for the ban of new uranium mining from American Indian tribes, Arizona residents and city and county officials, but you don't have to be a resident of the West to show how much you value the preservation of America's Grand Canyon lands.

Add your voice today by telling the Bureau of Land Management to approve a long-term ban of new uranium mining projects near the precious lands of the Grand Canyon.

By Kolleen Kawa, National Wildlife Federation