Western Environmental Law Center (WELC)

Campaigns

• Help Us Prevent GRIZZLY BEARS from Losing Endangered Species Act Protection

  Western Environmental Law Center is a nonprofit, public-interest environmental law firm. Our expert attorneys are ready to use the full power of the law and the courts to protect grizzly bears. We will be submitting legal comments to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding their proposal, but we need your help! Please join us before the comment deadline on May 10, 2016 by signing this petition and adding your comments to USFWS that you want grizzlies to fully recover as a natural and integral part of our landscape.

  3,616 of 4,000 Signatures

  Created by Natalie DeNault, Western Environmental Law Center
• STOP Bobcat and Wolf Fur Export!

  Under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regulates the export of animal pelts. The Service has illegally failed to evaluate the export program, resulting in the trapping and killing of native and endangered species. Western Environmental Law Center is a nonprofit, environmental law firm whose expert attorneys are dedicated to defending the wildlife of the American West. WELC attorneys filed suit against U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in May.

  13,656 of 15,000 Signatures

  Created by Sarah Goeth, Western Environmental Law Center
• NO SALVAGE LOGGING IN HIGH QUALITY LYNX HABITAT!

  The Western Environmental Law Center is a nonprofit, public-interest environmental law firm. Our expert attorneys are ready to use the full power of the law to stop salvage logging in high quality lynx habitat. WELC will be submitting all signatures and comments below to Andrea Jones, District Ranger for the Conejos Peak Ranger District of the Rio Grande National Forest on November 30, 2017.

  695 of 800 Signatures

  Created by Michelle Loth, Western Environmental Law Center
• Obama: Don't double down on COAL in the Four Corners

  In 2015, the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) finalized a Record of Decision approving another 25 years of coal mining and burning at the Four Corners Power Plant (FCPP) and Navajo Mine outside of Farmington, New Mexico. The DOIs decision was predicated on a faulty Fish and Wildlife Service biological opinion and violated numerous statutes contained in the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act. It is also in direct contradiction to the United States’ global climate change commitments. The Four Corners Power Plant was built in the early 1960s with a stated useful lifespan of 50 years. Each year it spews the greenhouse gas equivalent of over 11 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere alongside thousands of tons of toxic pollutants including mercury, arsenic, selenium, lead, and nitrogen oxides. These elements degrade regional air and water quality and are dangerous to human health. Studies clearly demonstrate that communities downwind of the mouth-mine complex already experience elevated incidences of chronic respiratory diseases compared with the rest of the country. Aside from this complex’s egregious impacts to environmental and human health, just as concerning is what this decision means for our regional economy. The coal industry is in permanent decline, the Navajo Mine is struggling to stay afloat, and FCPP needs hundreds of millions of dollars to modernize its antiquated facilities. Instead of reinforcing the economic and moral imperative to transitioning away from coal, this decision, in essence, directs hundreds of millions of dollars into toxic assets that are bound to fail. This money would be far better spent modernizing our infrastructure and preparing our energy economy for the jobs of tomorrow.

  561 of 600 Signatures

  Created by Sarah Goeth, Western Environmental Law Center
• So close to climate change victory in Washington State -- help us win!

  Eight youth plaintiffs just won a precedent-setting court victory in Foster et. al. v. Washington Department of Ecology. The Western Environmental Law Center, a nonprofit public interest law firm, represented the youth who filed their petition in collaboration with Our Children's Trust, a nonprofit leading a global legal campaign for a healthy atmosphere and stable climate. In a landmark decision, the King County Superior Court ordered the Washington Department of Ecology to reconsider their decision denying the youth’s request for a rule regulating carbon dioxide emissions and to consider the best available climate science. We need your voice to help us ensure that Governor Inslee does the right thing by directing Ecology to regulate carbon dioxide emissions by August 7, 2015.

  836 of 1,000 Signatures

  Created by Natalie DeNault, Western Environmental Law Center
• Stop the Pacific Connector liquefied natural gas pipeline in Oregon!

  Western Environmental Law Center is a nonprofit, public-interest environmental law firm. Our expert attorneys are ready to use the full power of the law and the courts to stop the Pacific Connector pipeline. Please join us before the February 13 deadline in telling FERC not to prioritize corporate income over the health of our environment and communities.

  1,638 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Natalie DeNault
• Protect Endangered Fish in Oregon!

  Western Environmental Law Center is a nonprofit, environmental law firm dedicated to defending wildlife in the West. On March 7, 2017, WELC served a Notice of Intent to sue the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for failing to protect wild winter steelhead.

  632 of 800 Signatures

  Created by Michelle Loth, Western Environmental Law Center
• Stop the Use of Lethal M-44 "Cyanide Bombs" to Kill Native Wildlife!

  The Trump administration recently reauthorized the use of deadly sodium cyanide in wildlife-killing devices called M-44s on our public lands. These “cyanide bombs” were approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency despite inhumanely and indiscriminately killing thousands of animals each year by luring them in by smelly bait. Anything or anyone that pulls on the baited M-44 device can be killed or severely injured by the deadly capsule of sodium cyanide inside. In 2017 alone, M-44s temporarily blinded a child and killed three beloved family dogs in two incidents in Idaho and Wyoming, and accidentally killed an endangered wolf in Oregon. The Western Environmental Law Center is a nonprofit, public-interest environmental law firm and our expert attorneys are using the full power of the law to stop the use of dangerous, lethal sodium cyanide poison devices on public lands nationwide.

  34,536 of 35,000 Signatures

  Created by Michelle Loth, Western Environmental Law Center
• Save the Proposed Crater Lake Wilderness from Logging

  Western Environmental Law Center is a nonprofit, public-interest environmental law firm. We filed a lawsuit challenging the Loafer logging Project in December 2013. In April 2014, in response to WELC’s lawsuit, the Forest Service pulled its proposal, but now it’s back. We are fighting this project because it would not only impact native and endangered species in the short-term, but would preclude some of the last remaining untouched Western forests from wilderness protection.

  484 of 500 Signatures

  Created by Natalie DeNault, Western Environmental Law Center
• Canada Lynx Need Greater Protection

  Western Environmental Law Center is a nonprofit environmental law firm. Our expert attorneys have long been effective in Canada Lynx protection. For example, in a September 6, 2016 court victory, a federal court ordered the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service to reexamine lynx critical habitat (land designated by the federal government as essential to the survival and recovery of a species). WELC also recently obtained a court order requiring the Fish and Wildlife Service to prepare a recovery plan to guide management of the species after a more than 14 YEAR DELAY. WELC continues to demand enhanced protection for lynx and supports the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife’s proposal for endangered status for the species.

  1,114 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Sarah Goeth, Western Environmental Law Center