Earthjustice

Campaigns

• Protect Northwest Orcas

  The critically endangered population of Pacific Northwest orcas has been reduced to only 84 individuals. Now, they face a new threat from anti-environmental groups seeking to strip away their Endangered Species Act protections. Tell the National Marine Fisheries Service that this unique population deserves full protection under the law. These unique marine mammals have been decimated by the decline of salmon—their primary prey—and by toxic pollution and habitat degradation from shipping, sonar and other human activities. They need more, not less, protection. Please voice your support for continuing vital protections for the Pacific Northwest's irreplaceable killer whales.

  61,962 of 75,000 Signatures

  Created by Alex Vanderweele
• Save Bees from a Highly Toxic Pesticide

  Bee populations are plummeting! Yet the Environmental Protection Agency recently sided with Dow AgroSciences to approve a new, highly toxic bee-killing pesticide called sulfoxaflor. And now the EPA is considering expanding the number of crops this pesticide can be sprayed on to include corn, alfalfa, oats, and several other significant and widely grown crops. Will you help us fight back? Tell the EPA to deny Dow AgroScience’s application to expand the registration of the bee-killing pesticide sulfoxaflor now. Nearly one-third of our crops—including many vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds—depend on bees for pollination. But bees in our country are dying at unprecedented rates, and scientists are pointing to pesticides like sulfoxaflor as a cause. A world without bees is unimaginable. Earthjustice is doing everything we can to fight back, using the law and the power of the courts. But we need your help to stop this latest proposal. Help us ensure that sulfoxaflor does not become the final straw for bees. Take action now to save bees!

  41,875 of 45,000 Signatures

  Created by Greg Loarie, Earthjustice
• Reject the Next Generation of GMO Crops and Pesticides

  The USDA is poised to allow farmers to plant 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) resistant corn and soy. This would allow farmers to plant these crops wherever they please without any government oversight, disregarding the harms they will cause. 2,4-D is a toxic herbicide associated with serious health impacts. Dow AgroScience created these 2,4-D resistant crops so farmers could spray the herbicide without killing their corn and soy. But when the same herbicide is sprayed on a field repeatedly, a few naturally resistant weeds survive, reproduce and eventually take over. Because farmers did this with Monsanto’s Roundup-resistant crops, fields across the U.S. are now choked with Roundup-resistant weeds. Industry’s solution is to genetically engineer crops to resist a different, more toxic herbicide, to kill those resistant weeds but not the crops. But make no mistake, these GMO crops will, like their predecessors, lead to much greater use of even more dangerous chemicals, the development of more herbicide-resistant weeds, destruction and genetic contamination of neighboring crops, and severe economic impacts on other farmers. USDA projects approval of these crops will result in an up to 600 percent increase in 2,4-D use on crops, to as much as 176 million pounds per year, while independent scientists believe much greater increases are likely. Drifting 2,4-D already causes more crop injury events to neighboring farms than any other herbicide. Please tell the USDA to deny approval use of these crops.

  56,386 of 75,000 Signatures

  Created by Paul Achitoff, Earthjustice
• Wolves in the Lower-48 States Need Your Help

  URGENT UPDATE: Earthjustice attorneys have heard that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service might put out its proposed national wolf delisting rule within days. We need you to act now! Any day now, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service may remove federal Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves across nearly the entire lower 48 states. This would be a disastrous setback for gray wolf recovery in the United States. The recovery of gray wolves is an American success story, from their reintroduction in the northern Rocky Mountains to their comeback in the western Great Lakes states. But there are few, if any, gray wolves in the vast majority of their former range. If the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removes gray wolf federal protections, wolves in the Pacific Northwest, California, the southern Rocky Mountains, and the Northeast will face even more difficult odds than they do already. It is critical that the administration not proceed with a blanket national delisting of the gray wolf, when wolves are still missing across so much of the U.S. landscape. Urge President Obama and Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell to maintain protections for gray wolves in the lower 48 states.

  360 of 400 Signatures

  Created by Doug Honnold, Earthjustice
• COMMENT PERIOD CLOSED: We must defeat this proposal to build the nation's largest coal export ter...

  Your urgent help is needed to defeat a proposal to build the nation’s largest coal export terminal. The Millennium coal export terminal would ship 44 million tons of coal annually to Asia via Longview, Washington, putting the local community at risk. It would also generate more greenhouse gas pollution in Asia, contributing to climate change. For the last six years, Earthjustice’s legal team has represented local communities opposed to the project. Now we have just a few weeks left to submit public comments on the draft environmental impact statement for this massive project. Make your voice heard today. Say NO to the largest coal export terminal in the United States. The transportation of this coal poses a risk for everyone in its path. The coal would be sourced from mines in Montana and Wyoming, then loaded into uncovered boxcars to be transported by rail to the proposed terminal on the Columbia River. Coal dust from the mile-long coal trains would pollute nearby communities along the rail route. Once the coal arrived at the Longview terminal, it would sit in enormous open-air piles, where winds would blow coal dust into the city of Longview, creating a public health hazard. Coal’s future is bleak—Millennium backer Arch Coal filed for bankruptcy in January, and its dreams of mining in Montana’s Otter Creek are over. But Big Coal still wants to have a dirty coal chute to Asia as its last hope for keeping this unhealthy industry. Fortunately, the movement to stop dirty coal from polluting our towns and rivers is bigger and stronger than ever. Now is the time to raise our voices and lock out dirty coal once and for all. Please stand up to Big Coal today. Let’s make sure this proposal is stopped in its tracks once and for all.

  7,732 of 8,000 Signatures

  Created by Jan Hasselman, Earthjustice
• TAKE ACTION: Stop Old-Growth Clear-Cutting in the Tongass National Forest

  Last year the U.S. Forest Service approved the Big Thorne timber sale in the Tongass National Forest—the largest, most destructive old-growth clear-cutting project in more than 20 years. Earthjustice is in court today fighting to stop Big Thorne, but if we don’t act soon the Forest Service could approve a forest plan for the Tongass that would allow more large-scale old-growth timber sales just like it for another decade or more, instead of the quick end to old-growth logging in the Tongass promised by the administration in 2010. We can save the Tongass rainforest—but we need your urgent help now to tell agency officials they should quickly bring an end to destructive and controversial large-scale old-growth logging. The Tongass is one of the few remaining old-growth temperate rainforests in the world, and America’s largest national forest. Towering stands of 700-year-old trees provide vital habitat for countless species, including the Alexander Archipelago wolf. An ancient, carbon-rich forest, the Tongass helps to moderate global climate change. Delegates to the Paris climate talks agreed that protecting the Earth’s forests is one of the most important means of curbing the damaging effects of climate change. Protecting Tongass old-growth is an essential step the United States must take to meet the climate imperative coming out of the Paris talks. A stronghold for all five species of Pacific salmon, the Tongass supports a thriving fishing industry as well as a booming tourism industry, as people from across the country visit to enjoy its world-class recreation, hunting and sport and commercial fishing opportunities. The communities of southeast Alaska depend on the bounty of the Tongass and its lands and waters for subsistence practices, recreation and livelihoods. Take action now to protect the Tongass National Forest and reject old-growth logging.

  886 of 1,000 Signatures

  Created by Holly Harris, Earthjustice
• Protect The Endangered Species Act From Congressional Attacks

  December 2013 marked the 40th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, one of the world's strongest and most effective wildlife protection laws. Unfortunately, just at this time when we celebrate four decades of success with the ESA, a bill that could rightly be called the “Extinction Act” has been introduced by anti-environment lawmakers in the House and Senate (H.R. 3533 / S. 1731). This bill would gut the ESA and put imperiled species at greater risk. This bill would harm imperiled species by: - Automatically removing them from the lists of endangered and threatened species after five years, whether or not they've recovered. - Letting politics win over science by requiring that state governors give their consent before species in their states can be listed under the ESA, and requiring a joint resolution of Congress to approve the listing of species as threatened or endangered. - Undermining citizens' ability to enforce the ESA in court and to help protect imperiled species by filing citizen listing petitions.

  36,191 of 40,000 Signatures

  Created by Marjorie Mulhall, Earthjustice
• COMMENT PERIOD CLOSED: Oppose the largest crude oil-by-rail terminal ever proposed in North America

  THE COMMENT PERIOD FOR THIS ACTION IS CLOSED However, you can still sign this petition to express your support for this issue. It only took a few sentences on page 1,865 of the massive 2016 budget bill to repeal a decades-old ban on domestic crude oil export. This move will lead to more drilling, more climate-disrupting emissions, and more reckless transport of oil. The oil industry has set its sights on the Pacific Northwest as a gateway for transporting more and more crude oil, and we’re fighting its plans on several fronts at once. Tesoro-Savage’s unprecedented and reckless proposal for an oil terminal in Vancouver, WA has drawn broad opposition, with Columbia River Tribes, a local longshoremen’s union, firefighters, business leaders, health professionals, climate activists, neighborhood associations, faith leaders, the City of Portland, the City of Vancouver itself, and a clear majority of local voters already speaking against it. By itself, Tesoro-Savage’s proposed facility would ship over 360,000 barrels of crude oil per day—almost half as much as the Keystone XL Pipeline. This “pipeline on rails” would bring four or more mile-long trains carrying explosive crude oil across western states, through Spokane, along the Columbia River, and into Vancouver every day. We must stop it. When these oil trains derail, they can spill, explode and ignite. We’ve already seen these devastating accidents across North America. When oil tankers crash and spill, fish and wildlife die, the harm lasts for decades, tribal economies and cultures suffer, and local river and fishing jobs are lost. Let’s work together to make sure this doesn’t happen. Washington’s Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council just released its draft environmental review. Comment now to make sure this project—the largest oil-by-rail terminal proposed in North America—is rejected.

  12,495 of 15,000 Signatures

  Created by Kristen Boyles, Earthjustice
• TAKE ACTION: Get these hormone-disrupting chemicals out of our food!

  No matter how careful you are about what you eat, your food could be loaded with toxic chemicals called phthalates. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering a petition, filed by Earthjustice and several partner organizations, asking the agency to withdraw its approval of all 30 phthalates currently allowed as food additives. Please tell the FDA that phthalates don’t belong in our food. Phthalates (pronounced THAL-ates) are a class of hormone-disrupting chemicals that have been linked to severe genital birth defects in baby boys and to other reproductive health problems. They’re also linked to deficits in child IQ, developmental delays, and other learning disabilities. It’s hard to avoid phthalates because they’re used in many of the materials that come into contact with our food—from the plastic gloves that food workers wear to plastic equipment used in processing food to the plastic packaging our food is sold in. Phthalates leach out of these materials and seep into our food, ending up in all of our bodies. Despite powerful scientific evidence of the harmful health effects of these chemicals, the FDA still allows the use of 30 different toxic phthalates as “food additives,” meaning that they can be used in food-handling equipment and food packaging. Please tell the FDA to keep toxic phthalates out of our food!

  22,609 of 25,000 Signatures

  Created by Eve Gartner, Earthjustice
• Fund communities and natural landscapes not senseless walls

  The 2,000-mile stretch of land between the U.S. and Mexico contains one of the most diverse ecosystems in North America with wildlife such as the endangered Mexican gray wolf, jaguar, bighorn sheep, and ocelot calling it home. It is also where President Trump wants to build a 30-foot border wall. Not only will a wall between the U.S. and Mexico be disastrous for wildlife and the environment, but it will also threaten the economy and communities living along the border. We need your help to stop it. Politicians in Washington D.C. are looking to fund the construction of Trump’s wall in the U.S.-Mexico border through unprecedented and underhanded legislative gimmicks. A vote to fund a border wall will soon go up for a vote in the House and we need you to tell your representative to oppose any efforts to fund it. Construction of a wall is likely to create roadblocks in the migration paths of several threatened and endangered species and will also hinder the natural flow of waterways which could cause devastating flooding, endangering border communities and wildlife. The border wall is yet another gimmick used by the Trump administration to intimidate communities, particularly Latino and immigrant ones, from exercising their civil rights, including their right to a healthy environment. It is a symbol of fear that would come at the expense of our public lands, wildlife and environmental safeguards that protect border and immigrant communities. It’s justified by fiction, relying on the notion that our border communities must be militarized and somehow deserve fewer protections under the law. A wall is a distraction from the very real issues border communities face, and a waste of money. Our border communities need funding for schools, environmental clean-up and wildlife protection, not a divisive wall. Tell Congress to fund communities and natural landscapes, not senseless walls.

  1,326 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Raul Garcia, Earthjustice