Institute for Public Accuracy -- PM Friday, May 15, 2009
The Washington Post reports today, "The House passed a bill yesterday that would provide more than $96 billion in funding for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq through Sept. 30, as President Obama had requested, but a bloc of 51 Democrats opposed it.
"Democratic opponents are accusing Obama of the same charge they leveled against his predecessor: escalating a war without a clear exit strategy."
JO COMERFORD, jo@nationalpriorities.org
Executive director of the National Priorities Project, Comerford said today: "Each dollar spent on war in Afghanistan and Iraq is a dollar not spent on human needs here at home. For instance, taxpayers in Maryland will pay $2 billion for yesterday's House supplemental vote. For the same amount of money, they could have provided four years of health care for 75,000 people, or sent 50,000 students to four-year colleges -- for free.
"Of President Obama's initial $83.4 billion supplemental request, our analyses showed that $77.1 billion was for war and ancillary operations. Of that, we estimated that $52.7 billion was dedicated to the Iraq war for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2009. The estimated remaining $24.4 billion in war-funding is for the expanding war in Afghanistan and related operations.
"At roughly 70/30 (70 percent for Iraq and 30 percent for Afghanistan), this funding split begins departing from the 80/20 split that existed for years and is an indication of the rising costs in Afghanistan.
"To date, the cost of war approved by Congress is $830.2 billion with $657.3 billion to Iraq and $172.9 billion to Afghanistan. The $77.1 billion from the initial supplemental request brought total war spending to $907.3 billion since 2001. Should the Senate join the House in considering additional supplemental funding, total war spending could easily exceed $915 billion."
The National Priorities Project's webpage features a "cost of war" counter as well as a "trade-offs" section, which calculates the localized cost of federal spending decisions.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Fantastic reporters' resource: Al's Morning Meeting
If you don't spend lots of time at the Poynter Institute's website, you should. Al's Morning Meeting is just one reason -- check him out. I especially like his "Diggin'" posts, because I am a document junkie. As the editor's note on www.poynter.org says:
"Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends on the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. We will correct errors and inaccuracies when we become aware of them."
This is just from today -- there are loads on his blog, including tips and sources for covering Obama's decision to fight release of the detainee torture photos, and "Covering the Recession's Effect on Social Security, Medicare." L
Al Tompkins
Story ideas that you can localize and enterprise. Posted by 7:30 a.m. Mon-Fri.
Planting Trees on West, South Sides of Houses Can Cut Energy Costs
Posted by Al Tompkins at 3:31 PM on May. 14, 2009
My old friend Jim Sweeney spotted this and sent it to me for Al's Morning Meeting. The idea, which is about how trees can help lower the cost of summer electric bills, comes from the National Institute of Standards and Technology:
"Trees positioned to shade the west and south sides of a house may decrease summertime electric bills by 5 percent on average, according to a recent study of California homes by researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)."
Read on for the study's findings.
CHECK AL's TWITTER FEED for nonstop story ideas throughout the day.
A dozen sites
I'm diggin'
*1. Do jockeys matter in a big horse race like this weekend's Preakness?
*2. Poynter's Steve Myers reports on the health of journalism organizations.
*3. Is the honeybee shortage a myth?
*4. Watch these multimedia projects by college students. They'll give you hope that lots of good things are to come for journalism.
5. Check out the newly released Census of Agriculture, "a complete count of U.S. farms and ranches and the people who operate them."
6. The Journalism Center on Children & Families' resource page for journalists covering child sex abuse cases.
*7. The future of fashion electronics is in clothing. Cute Circuit's "Hug Shirt," for instance, lets you "send and feel hugs to and from other Hug Shirt owning friends." There are also jackets with embedded mini-disc players, dresses that sense pollution and body scanners that help design the perfect fitting jeans.
*8. CNET has a resource page tracking the developments of Windows 7, which is to be released this year.
9. This site lets you set up an e-mail address that expires after 15 minutes.
10. Cool widgets from the government that you can use online.
11. The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma offers tips for journalists covering the Swine flu.
12. Subsidy Scope, a searchable database of TARP transactions, links to a list of banks participating in the FDIC's Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program.
All of my Diggin' sites are saved on Poynter's del.icio.us page.
May. 14, 2009
Covering the Recession's Effect on Social Security, Medicare
Posted by Al Tompkins at 6:48 AM on May. 14, 2009
Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare funds said this week that the recession has played hell with their finances and that both programs are heading for insolvency. We can see this problem on the horizon, but are we willing to do something about it?
Social Security will start paying out more than it takes in by 2016 -- a mere seven years from now. The program is now projected to be out of money by 2037, which is four years earlier than last predicted.
Medicare is in "much worse" shape, the trustees said. It is already paying out more than it takes in, and Medicare funds are expected to be gone by 2017, which is two years earlier than the last report forecast.
Trustees said an economic recovery won't fix things. In fact, a recovery is already built in to the bleak outlook.
May. 13, 2009
President Obama Shifts Position on Releasing Military Abuse Photos
Posted by Al Tompkins at 3:06 PM on May. 13, 2009
President Barack Obama promised a new openness in government. But Wednesday, he said he opposes the release of dozens and possibly hundreds of military photos that reportedly show prisoner abuse in facilities other than Abu Ghraib. The photos were taken in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The American Civil Liberties Union fought to have the photos released and this week, the Defense Department agreed to stop fighting the release.
Now, the White House said the president "strongly believes that the release of these photos, particularly at this time, would only serve the purpose of inflaming the theaters of war, jeopardizing U.S. forces, and making our job more difficult in places like Iraq and Afghanistan."
Read on to find out about the criticisms Obama received earlier this week for going along with the release of the photos.
"Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends on the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. We will correct errors and inaccuracies when we become aware of them."
This is just from today -- there are loads on his blog, including tips and sources for covering Obama's decision to fight release of the detainee torture photos, and "Covering the Recession's Effect on Social Security, Medicare." L
Al Tompkins
Story ideas that you can localize and enterprise. Posted by 7:30 a.m. Mon-Fri.
Planting Trees on West, South Sides of Houses Can Cut Energy Costs
Posted by Al Tompkins at 3:31 PM on May. 14, 2009
My old friend Jim Sweeney spotted this and sent it to me for Al's Morning Meeting. The idea, which is about how trees can help lower the cost of summer electric bills, comes from the National Institute of Standards and Technology:
"Trees positioned to shade the west and south sides of a house may decrease summertime electric bills by 5 percent on average, according to a recent study of California homes by researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)."
Read on for the study's findings.
CHECK AL's TWITTER FEED for nonstop story ideas throughout the day.
A dozen sites
I'm diggin'
*1. Do jockeys matter in a big horse race like this weekend's Preakness?
*2. Poynter's Steve Myers reports on the health of journalism organizations.
*3. Is the honeybee shortage a myth?
*4. Watch these multimedia projects by college students. They'll give you hope that lots of good things are to come for journalism.
5. Check out the newly released Census of Agriculture, "a complete count of U.S. farms and ranches and the people who operate them."
6. The Journalism Center on Children & Families' resource page for journalists covering child sex abuse cases.
*7. The future of fashion electronics is in clothing. Cute Circuit's "Hug Shirt," for instance, lets you "send and feel hugs to and from other Hug Shirt owning friends." There are also jackets with embedded mini-disc players, dresses that sense pollution and body scanners that help design the perfect fitting jeans.
*8. CNET has a resource page tracking the developments of Windows 7, which is to be released this year.
9. This site lets you set up an e-mail address that expires after 15 minutes.
10. Cool widgets from the government that you can use online.
11. The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma offers tips for journalists covering the Swine flu.
12. Subsidy Scope, a searchable database of TARP transactions, links to a list of banks participating in the FDIC's Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program.
All of my Diggin' sites are saved on Poynter's del.icio.us page.
May. 14, 2009
Covering the Recession's Effect on Social Security, Medicare
Posted by Al Tompkins at 6:48 AM on May. 14, 2009
Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare funds said this week that the recession has played hell with their finances and that both programs are heading for insolvency. We can see this problem on the horizon, but are we willing to do something about it?
Social Security will start paying out more than it takes in by 2016 -- a mere seven years from now. The program is now projected to be out of money by 2037, which is four years earlier than last predicted.
Medicare is in "much worse" shape, the trustees said. It is already paying out more than it takes in, and Medicare funds are expected to be gone by 2017, which is two years earlier than the last report forecast.
Trustees said an economic recovery won't fix things. In fact, a recovery is already built in to the bleak outlook.
May. 13, 2009
President Obama Shifts Position on Releasing Military Abuse Photos
Posted by Al Tompkins at 3:06 PM on May. 13, 2009
President Barack Obama promised a new openness in government. But Wednesday, he said he opposes the release of dozens and possibly hundreds of military photos that reportedly show prisoner abuse in facilities other than Abu Ghraib. The photos were taken in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The American Civil Liberties Union fought to have the photos released and this week, the Defense Department agreed to stop fighting the release.
Now, the White House said the president "strongly believes that the release of these photos, particularly at this time, would only serve the purpose of inflaming the theaters of war, jeopardizing U.S. forces, and making our job more difficult in places like Iraq and Afghanistan."
Read on to find out about the criticisms Obama received earlier this week for going along with the release of the photos.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Wednesday, May 13 -- Oregon National Guard soldiers to testify on toxic chemical exposure
State Rep. Chip Shields
May 12th, 2009
MEDIA ADVISORY
Media Contact:
Eamon McCleery
503-986-1443
Kellog, Brown and Root alleged to have "disregarded and downplayed the extreme danger of wholesale site contamination" in Iraq.
HB 3480 would provide funds to Guard members who develop cancer as a result of exposure to hexavalent chromium at facility.
Hearing details:
Date: Wednesday-May 13
Time: 3:00 P.M.
Room: HR 50
Where: State Capitol Building
Salem, Ore. - Representative Chip Shields (D-N/NE Portland) announced today that the House Committee on Elections, Ethics and Rules will hear from several members of the Oregon National Guard on Wednesday, May 13 who were exposed to the toxic industrial compound hexavalent chromium while serving in Iraq.
The soldiers will be testifying in support of House Bill 3480, which would authorize the Oregon Military Department to make payments to members of Oregon National Guard who develop cancer as a result of their exposure to hexavalent chromium.
"This bill is about standing up for our soldiers and their families," said Rep Shields. "Passing this bill is a very modest recognition of their pain and sacrifice."
In 2003, Oregon and Indiana Guard Members were assigned to protect Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR) employees who were rebuilding a water treatment plant outside of Basra, Iraq. Soldiers reportedly saw large amounts of an orange-colored dust that contained hexavalent chromium on the ground and covering the pipes in the water treatment plant. Exposure to small amounts of hexavalent chromium has shown a high increase the risk of leukemia as well as lung, stomach, brain, renal, bladder and bone cancers. Three Oregon National Guard members who were exposed have already contracted cancer.
A group of Indiana Guard Members began a lawsuit against KBR in February of last year claiming the contractor "disregarded and downplayed" the seriousness of the contamination.
May 12th, 2009
MEDIA ADVISORY
Media Contact:
Eamon McCleery
503-986-1443
Kellog, Brown and Root alleged to have "disregarded and downplayed the extreme danger of wholesale site contamination" in Iraq.
HB 3480 would provide funds to Guard members who develop cancer as a result of exposure to hexavalent chromium at facility.
Hearing details:
Date: Wednesday-May 13
Time: 3:00 P.M.
Room: HR 50
Where: State Capitol Building
Salem, Ore. - Representative Chip Shields (D-N/NE Portland) announced today that the House Committee on Elections, Ethics and Rules will hear from several members of the Oregon National Guard on Wednesday, May 13 who were exposed to the toxic industrial compound hexavalent chromium while serving in Iraq.
The soldiers will be testifying in support of House Bill 3480, which would authorize the Oregon Military Department to make payments to members of Oregon National Guard who develop cancer as a result of their exposure to hexavalent chromium.
"This bill is about standing up for our soldiers and their families," said Rep Shields. "Passing this bill is a very modest recognition of their pain and sacrifice."
In 2003, Oregon and Indiana Guard Members were assigned to protect Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR) employees who were rebuilding a water treatment plant outside of Basra, Iraq. Soldiers reportedly saw large amounts of an orange-colored dust that contained hexavalent chromium on the ground and covering the pipes in the water treatment plant. Exposure to small amounts of hexavalent chromium has shown a high increase the risk of leukemia as well as lung, stomach, brain, renal, bladder and bone cancers. Three Oregon National Guard members who were exposed have already contracted cancer.
A group of Indiana Guard Members began a lawsuit against KBR in February of last year claiming the contractor "disregarded and downplayed" the seriousness of the contamination.
Monday, May 11, 2009
"Not Surprising": U.S. Soldier Kills Five Others in Iraq
PM Monday, May 11, 2009
From the Institute for Public Accuracy - Interviews Available
The New York Times is reporting: "The United States military said Monday that five American soldiers had been shot to death by a fellow soldier who opened fire on them at one of the biggest American bases in Baghdad, and that the suspected shooter was in custody."
AARON GLANTZ, aaronfglantz@yahoo.com, http://aaronglantz.com, http://newtimesslo.com/cover/2010/the-long-road-home
Glantz is a Rosalynn Carter Fellow for Mental Health Journalism at the Carter Center and author of the book, "The War Comes Home: Washington's Battle Against America's Veterans."
He said today: "This Columbine-style shooting in Iraq is shocking, but unfortunately is not surprising. For eight years now, the Army has stood by silently as more and more American soldiers have taken their own lives under the strain of repeated deployments, an acute lack of mental health services, and a back-door draft. It was only a matter of time before a stressed-out soldier pointed his gun at comrades rather than himself.
"In January, the Army reported more active-duty soldiers had committed suicide than died in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. The Army's suicide rate for 2008 (128) was the highest in 28 years."
From the Institute for Public Accuracy - Interviews Available
The New York Times is reporting: "The United States military said Monday that five American soldiers had been shot to death by a fellow soldier who opened fire on them at one of the biggest American bases in Baghdad, and that the suspected shooter was in custody."
AARON GLANTZ, aaronfglantz@yahoo.com, http://aaronglantz.com, http://newtimesslo.com/cover/2010/the-long-road-home
Glantz is a Rosalynn Carter Fellow for Mental Health Journalism at the Carter Center and author of the book, "The War Comes Home: Washington's Battle Against America's Veterans."
He said today: "This Columbine-style shooting in Iraq is shocking, but unfortunately is not surprising. For eight years now, the Army has stood by silently as more and more American soldiers have taken their own lives under the strain of repeated deployments, an acute lack of mental health services, and a back-door draft. It was only a matter of time before a stressed-out soldier pointed his gun at comrades rather than himself.
"In January, the Army reported more active-duty soldiers had committed suicide than died in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. The Army's suicide rate for 2008 (128) was the highest in 28 years."
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
From the IRE listserv
Have you ever heard of www.governmentattic.org? Fun fun fun for document junkies........this post is reprinted from the Investigative Reporters and Editors listserv.
Message: 1
Date: Wed, 06 May 2009 07:58:01 -0400
From: Michael Ravnitzky
Subject: [IREPLUS-L] Spotted on Government Attic - Navy Salvage
Reports
To: Discussion of Investigative Reporting Techniques and Training
, State and Local Freedom of Information Issues
, "ireplus-l@ire.org"
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
SPOTTED ON GOVERNMENT ATTIC - NAVY SALVAGE REPORTS
Seven US Navy Salvage Reports (SUPSALV), 1968 - 1992
http://www.governmentattic.org/SUPSALV_Reports.html
Included are:
US Navy Salvage Report: USS Frank Knox (DDR-742) Stranding Salvage, 25 Oct
1968
US Navy Salvage Report: Suez Canal Salvage Operations in 1974
US Navy Salvage Report: Ex-Tortuga (LSD 26) Salvage Report, 14 Sep 1989
US Navy Salvage Report: USCGC Mesquite Salvage Operation Dec 89 - July 90,
19 July 1991
US Navy Salvage Report: Commercial Aircraft Salvage Operations, 1 Apr 1992
US Navy Salvage Report: Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm Vol. 1, July
1992
US Navy Salvage Report: Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm Vol. II, July
1992
Message: 1
Date: Wed, 06 May 2009 07:58:01 -0400
From: Michael Ravnitzky
Subject: [IREPLUS-L] Spotted on Government Attic - Navy Salvage
Reports
To: Discussion of Investigative Reporting Techniques and Training
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
SPOTTED ON GOVERNMENT ATTIC - NAVY SALVAGE REPORTS
Seven US Navy Salvage Reports (SUPSALV), 1968 - 1992
http://www.governmentattic.org/SUPSALV_Reports.html
Included are:
US Navy Salvage Report: USS Frank Knox (DDR-742) Stranding Salvage, 25 Oct
1968
US Navy Salvage Report: Suez Canal Salvage Operations in 1974
US Navy Salvage Report: Ex-Tortuga (LSD 26) Salvage Report, 14 Sep 1989
US Navy Salvage Report: USCGC Mesquite Salvage Operation Dec 89 - July 90,
19 July 1991
US Navy Salvage Report: Commercial Aircraft Salvage Operations, 1 Apr 1992
US Navy Salvage Report: Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm Vol. 1, July
1992
US Navy Salvage Report: Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm Vol. II, July
1992
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Doctors Arrested at Senate "Roundtable" on Healthcare
PM Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Institute for Public Accuracy -- Interviews Available
Doctors and other advocates of a national single-payer health system -- also known as improved Medicare for All -- directly confronted senators at a Senate Finance Committee "roundtable" on health reform today. Videos are available here http://www.singlepayeraction.org.
One by one, single-payer advocates in the audience stood up and asked why single-payer experts were being excluded from the proceedings. They each spoke out in turn until they were removed from the committee hearing room by Capitol police, at which point another person would speak up. Eight were arrested.
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, has stated on multiple occasions that single payer is "off the table" of health reform. As advocates spoke up today, he joked that he needed more police.
Today's roundtable, the second of three, consisted of 15 witnesses with no single-payer advocates among them. By contrast, several witnesses have direct ties to the for-profit, private health insurance industry.
Among the single-payer advocates who spoke up at the hearing, several have been released from custody this afternoon and are now available for interviews:
MARGARET FLOWERS, MD, nose1@aol.com, http://www.md.pnhp.org, http://www.pnhp.org
Flowers, who is co-chair of the Maryland chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program (a national organization of 16,000 physicians, medical students and health professionals who support single-payer national health insurance), said today: "Health insurance administrators are practicing medicine without a medical license. The result is the suffering and death of thousands of patients for the sake of private profit."
After Flowers and others where removed from the hearing room, Baucus stated that he "deeply respected" their views while "orderly process" was needed. Flowers said: "We tried the orderly process, we contacted the senators, and they excluded us. The first person who spoke up noted that there were doctors who could testify -- and they arrested him."
RUSSELL MOKHIBER, russellmokhiber@gmail.com, http://www.singlepayeraction.org
Founder of Single Payer Action, Mokhiber said today: "It's a pretty spectacular display of raw political power. The health insurance industry demands that not one of the 15 people who testified today shall be a single-payer advocate. And the industry gets what it wants. It’s time for the American people to storm the gates and demand -- put single payer on the table."
KATIE ROBBINS, healthcarenow08@gmail.com, http://www.healthcare-now.org
Assistant national coordinator of Healthcare-NOW, a grassroots advocacy organization in support of single-payer national health care with a network of activists in 42 states, said today: “The current discussion on health reform is political theater at its best. Our elected officials are hosting these events to go through the motions of what developing effective national health policy should look like. There is a big difference between getting health policy experts in the room and the witnesses here today who would profit the most from reform. That difference means our hard-earned dollars will go to further insurance industry profits, not to guarantee health care to the American people."
Institute for Public Accuracy -- Interviews Available
Doctors and other advocates of a national single-payer health system -- also known as improved Medicare for All -- directly confronted senators at a Senate Finance Committee "roundtable" on health reform today. Videos are available here http://www.singlepayeraction.org.
One by one, single-payer advocates in the audience stood up and asked why single-payer experts were being excluded from the proceedings. They each spoke out in turn until they were removed from the committee hearing room by Capitol police, at which point another person would speak up. Eight were arrested.
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, has stated on multiple occasions that single payer is "off the table" of health reform. As advocates spoke up today, he joked that he needed more police.
Today's roundtable, the second of three, consisted of 15 witnesses with no single-payer advocates among them. By contrast, several witnesses have direct ties to the for-profit, private health insurance industry.
Among the single-payer advocates who spoke up at the hearing, several have been released from custody this afternoon and are now available for interviews:
MARGARET FLOWERS, MD, nose1@aol.com, http://www.md.pnhp.org, http://www.pnhp.org
Flowers, who is co-chair of the Maryland chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program (a national organization of 16,000 physicians, medical students and health professionals who support single-payer national health insurance), said today: "Health insurance administrators are practicing medicine without a medical license. The result is the suffering and death of thousands of patients for the sake of private profit."
After Flowers and others where removed from the hearing room, Baucus stated that he "deeply respected" their views while "orderly process" was needed. Flowers said: "We tried the orderly process, we contacted the senators, and they excluded us. The first person who spoke up noted that there were doctors who could testify -- and they arrested him."
RUSSELL MOKHIBER, russellmokhiber@gmail.com, http://www.singlepayeraction.org
Founder of Single Payer Action, Mokhiber said today: "It's a pretty spectacular display of raw political power. The health insurance industry demands that not one of the 15 people who testified today shall be a single-payer advocate. And the industry gets what it wants. It’s time for the American people to storm the gates and demand -- put single payer on the table."
KATIE ROBBINS, healthcarenow08@gmail.com, http://www.healthcare-now.org
Assistant national coordinator of Healthcare-NOW, a grassroots advocacy organization in support of single-payer national health care with a network of activists in 42 states, said today: “The current discussion on health reform is political theater at its best. Our elected officials are hosting these events to go through the motions of what developing effective national health policy should look like. There is a big difference between getting health policy experts in the room and the witnesses here today who would profit the most from reform. That difference means our hard-earned dollars will go to further insurance industry profits, not to guarantee health care to the American people."
Wolves Targeted
PM Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Institute for Public Accuracy -- Interviews Available
AP reports: "Wolves in parts of the northern Rockies and the Great Lakes region come off the endangered species list on Monday, opening them to public hunts in some states for the first time in decades."
RODGER SCHLICKEISEN, SUZANNE ASHA STONE, sstone@defenders.org,
President of Defenders of Wildlife, Schlickeisen said: "This delisting is a potentially disastrous turn for a venture that began in 1995 in such a hopeful and rewarding manner: the restoration of wolves to their natural landscape in the West. We are outraged and dismayed that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar put his stamp of approval on this premature and inadequate Bush administration plan.
"We all expected more from the Obama administration, which repeatedly promised it would consult with conservationists, scientists, and other stakeholders on key issues before making decisions. Secretary Salazar rejected our offer to work with him to find the right way to delist wolves in the region and, instead, made his surprise announcement that he was removing federal protections for vulnerable wolves with no transparency at all. Defenders of Wildlife immediately filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act so we could learn who the Secretary talked to about the issue and what scientific review he undertook -- and we are still waiting for an answer. Meanwhile we are moving to sue Secretary Salazar as soon as possible to overturn this misguided and unwarranted decision.
"The delisting plan allows these two states [Idaho and Montana] to reduce wolf populations to levels that would threaten genetic diversity between populations and undermine the goal of ensuring a healthy, sustainable wolf population in the region. Secretary Salazar's terrible decision leaves us no choice. We will stand up for wolves and endangered species conservation by moving to challenge this delisting in court as soon as the law allows."
Northern Rockies representative for Defenders of Wildlife, Suzanne Stone, added: "All the reasons why this plan was a bad idea when the Bush administration proposed it still stand today. Idaho, which hosts the majority of the region's wolf population, has already publically announced its desire to aggressively reduce its state wolf population once federal protections are lifted. Today, there are at least 25 packs on the short-list that may be targeted for removal. ... Delisting the wolf at this point in time completely undermines the serious work, consideration and cooperation among all stakeholders that is necessary before being able to objectively declare the gray wolf recovered."
Institute for Public Accuracy -- Interviews Available
AP reports: "Wolves in parts of the northern Rockies and the Great Lakes region come off the endangered species list on Monday, opening them to public hunts in some states for the first time in decades."
RODGER SCHLICKEISEN, SUZANNE ASHA STONE, sstone@defenders.org,
President of Defenders of Wildlife, Schlickeisen said: "This delisting is a potentially disastrous turn for a venture that began in 1995 in such a hopeful and rewarding manner: the restoration of wolves to their natural landscape in the West. We are outraged and dismayed that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar put his stamp of approval on this premature and inadequate Bush administration plan.
"We all expected more from the Obama administration, which repeatedly promised it would consult with conservationists, scientists, and other stakeholders on key issues before making decisions. Secretary Salazar rejected our offer to work with him to find the right way to delist wolves in the region and, instead, made his surprise announcement that he was removing federal protections for vulnerable wolves with no transparency at all. Defenders of Wildlife immediately filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act so we could learn who the Secretary talked to about the issue and what scientific review he undertook -- and we are still waiting for an answer. Meanwhile we are moving to sue Secretary Salazar as soon as possible to overturn this misguided and unwarranted decision.
"The delisting plan allows these two states [Idaho and Montana] to reduce wolf populations to levels that would threaten genetic diversity between populations and undermine the goal of ensuring a healthy, sustainable wolf population in the region. Secretary Salazar's terrible decision leaves us no choice. We will stand up for wolves and endangered species conservation by moving to challenge this delisting in court as soon as the law allows."
Northern Rockies representative for Defenders of Wildlife, Suzanne Stone, added: "All the reasons why this plan was a bad idea when the Bush administration proposed it still stand today. Idaho, which hosts the majority of the region's wolf population, has already publically announced its desire to aggressively reduce its state wolf population once federal protections are lifted. Today, there are at least 25 packs on the short-list that may be targeted for removal. ... Delisting the wolf at this point in time completely undermines the serious work, consideration and cooperation among all stakeholders that is necessary before being able to objectively declare the gray wolf recovered."
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