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File:  ltr to Congress, 76 scientists 2012.pdfResource Type: Letters

File:  ltr to Congress, 76 scientists 2012.pdfResource Type: Letters

Oregon groups move to intervene in lawsuit to defend the Climate Protection Program against oil and gas industry attack Ally Harris Mon, 06/15/2026 - 3:19 pm

The Gulf Coast city of St. Petersburg is a place where art and nature blend together to create a whole vibe: The Dalí Museum overlooks mangrove-lined waters, bird-themed murals dot the streets of...

While Rowe Sanctuary is widely recognized for the Sandhill Crane migration and the bird life that draws in visitors from around the world, the landscape here supports far more than what most people...

© Camila Aguilera

A reciclagem de plásticos no Brasil segue sustentada por um mito perigoso: o de que todo material identificado como “reciclável” de fato retorna ao ciclo produtivo. A segunda edição da pesquisa “Catadores por Menos Plástico”, conduzida pelo Instituto de Direito Coletivo (IDC) em parceria com a Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), mostra que essa lógica não apenas persiste como aprofunda prejuízos sociais, ambientais e econômicos para os trabalhadores da reciclagem.

Realizado entre julho e dezembro de 2025, o novo levantamento acompanhou o trabalho de 20 associações e cooperativas de catadores, na capital e no interior do estado do Rio de Janeiro, mantendo o mesmo recorte territorial da primeira edição para permitir a comparação dos dados. Os resultados confirmam o cenário já identificado em 2024: os plásticos seguem como a principal categoria entre os rejeitos das cooperativas. Na segunda edição do estudo, eles representam cerca de 45% do material que não é reciclado e acaba destinado a aterros, lixões ou ao meio ambiente, mantendo-se como o maior componente do rejeito, apesar da redução em relação à edição anterior.

Além de confirmar a baixa reciclabilidade real das embalagens plásticas, a segunda edição da pesquisa aprofunda a mensuração dos danos econômicos e trabalhistas impostos aos catadores. O estudo aponta que cada catador perde, em média, 15,59 horas de trabalho por mês na triagem de plásticos que não têm valor de mercado — o equivalente a 9,38% do tempo mensal de trabalho, ou aproximadamente 2,08 dias de trabalho por mês dedicados a resíduos que não geram qualquer retorno financeiro

Em termos econômicos, a pesquisa estima que as 17 associações e cooperativas incluídas no cálculo deixam de arrecadar, mensalmente, entre R$ 1.179,03 e R$ 3.771,72, apenas considerando os tipos de plásticos que já possuem valor de mercado em pelo menos um dos territórios analisados. A variação decorre dos diferentes preços praticados na comercialização do PET Bandeja, que pode oscilar entre R$ 0,30 e R$ 3,70 por quilo, dependendo da forma de triagem e do comprador final

Segundo Tatiana Bastos, presidente do Instituto de Direito Coletivo (IDC), os dados escancaram uma distorção estrutural do sistema: “Estamos falando de quase 15 horas de trabalho desperdiçadas por catador todos os meses e de uma perda financeira recorrente para cooperativas que já operam no limite. Isso demonstra a falha do modelo de produção de embalagens e a ausência de responsabilidade real da indústria.”

Outro dado preocupante é o aumento da taxa geral de rejeitos nas amostras analisadas, especialmente nas cooperativas da capital, indicando uma piora na qualidade dos materiais encaminhados à coleta seletiva. “O que chamamos de reciclagem hoje transfere custo, tempo e desgaste físico para os catadores. Eles trabalham mais para ganhar menos, enquanto a indústria continua produzindo embalagens inviáveis do ponto de vista técnico ou econômico”, afirma Tatiana.

A pesquisa também realizou uma auditoria de marcas, identificando grupos empresariais responsáveis por grande parte das embalagens plásticas encontradas entre os rejeitos. Embora quase 200 empresas tenham sido identificadas, um número reduzido de grupos empresariais aparece de forma recorrente entre as embalagens encontradas nas cooperativas, reforçando a necessidade de responsabilização efetiva da indústria por meio da logística reversa e do redesenho de embalagens.

Os resultados da primeira edição do estudo já embasaram o Projeto de Lei nº 5.392/2025, em tramitação na Assembleia Legislativa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Alerj), que propõe a eliminação progressiva de embalagens não recicláveis, regras mais rígidas de rotulagem e o pagamento direto aos catadores pelos serviços ambientais prestados. A nova edição fortalece ainda mais essa agenda, ao demonstrar que o problema não é pontual, mas estrutural.

Para o IDC, combater o greenwashing e avançar rumo a uma economia circular justa exige mudanças urgentes na origem do problema. “Não existe reciclagem possível quando o produto já nasce como rejeito. Enquanto isso não mudar, o sistema continuará injusto com quem sustenta a reciclagem no Brasil”, conclui Tatiana Bastos.

The post Segunda edição de pesquisa revela agravamento do impacto do plástico não reciclável sobre catadores no Rio de Janeiro first appeared on GAIA.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

June 15, 2026

Lawsuit Launched to Challenge Oil Highway That Threatens World-Renowned Nine Mile Canyon 

Contacts:
Grant Stevens, Communications Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (319) 427-0260; grant@suwa.org
Deeda Seed, Center for Biological Diversity, (801) 803-9892, dseed@biologicaldiversity.org

Salt Lake City, UT – The Center for Biological Diversity today filed a notice of intent to sue the Trump administration’s Bureau of Land Management for quietly approving a hydrocarbon highway through Utah’s scenic, culturally and historically significant Gate Canyon in the West Tavaputs Plateau region of eastern Utah.  

“This lawsuit targets the Trump administration’s disgraceful plan to transform a quiet, meandering backcountry road into a highway clogged with speeding oil tankers,” said Deeda Seed, Senior Utah Campaigner at the Center. “Blasting through Gate Canyon’s walls threatens the area’s iconic rock art and will be a disaster for nearby animals, including threatened Mexican spotted owls. We’re prepared to go to court to protect this irreplaceable cultural treasure and the animals that call it home.” 

Gate Canyon feeds into Nine Mile Canyon — a world-renowned archaeological area that contains more than 10,000 unique, irreplaceable cultural, historical and archaeological resources.  The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA)filed a similar 60-day notice in April. Both notices say the BLM and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act by not considering the project’s threats to Mexican spotted owls, despite the fact that the BLM identified the cliffs near the proposed blasting areas as potential owl habitat. 

“The BLM knew that prior versions of this same proposal were extremely controversial and faced fierce public headwinds,” said Landon Newell, Staff Attorney with SUWA. “This time around, instead of facing the public, they hid their decision from scrutiny, rushing their analysis and approval, all under the guise of Trump’s “Energy Dominance” agenda.” 

The project, known as the “Wells Draw Road Amendment – Gate Canyon,” was proposed by Duchesne County and approved by the BLM on April 28, 2026. It involves the blasting and destruction of cliff walls and other large rock features in Gate Canyon to straighten and pave a 5.3-mile dirt road that winds through the scenic canyon as it climbs from Nine Mile Canyon to the Badland Cliffs region of the southern Uinta Basin.   

The project is intended to provide an alternative route for transporting oil out of the Uinta Basin. The road would accommodate 70-foot oil tanker trucks traveling between the oil fields and transloading facilities in Carbon County, Utah. It is estimated that once the destruction of Gate Canyon is complete as many as 1,000 vehicles could pass through each day — the equivalent of “[a] tanker truck every 7 minutes,” according to news reports.  

This marks the third attempt by the county to destroy Gate Canyon. In 2015 and 2022, the BLM received similar applications to realign Gate Canyon Road, but those projects were abandoned amid significant public opposition.  The BLM quietly posted the latest iteration of the project in March 2026 without issuing public notice or opening a formal comment period. After learning of the project, conservation groups requested that the BLM allow for public participation in the decision-making process. The agency denied those requests and quickly approved the project in April.  

Nine Mile Canyon is often referred to as “the world’s longest art gallery” because of its extensive collection of rock art and archeological sites. Previous BLM studies describe the area as containing “a significant and high density of historic, cultural, and archeological sites joined together in several overlapping historic landscapes” and saying it “is known to contain the country’s highest concentration of rock art panels, remnants of the prehistoric Archaic, Freemont, and Ute cultures . . . The rock structural remains of Fremont homes, granaries, and ‘forts’ are more visible in Nine Mile Canyon than almost anywhere in the Fremont cultural area.” 

### 
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) is a nonprofit organization with members and supporters from around the country dedicated to protecting America’s redrock wilderness. From offices in Moab, Salt Lake City, and Washington, DC, our team of professionals defends the redrock, organizes support for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, and stewards a world-renowned landscape. Learn more at www.suwa.org. 

 

 

The post Lawsuit Launched to Challenge Oil Highway That Threatens World-Renowned Nine Mile Canyon – 6.15.26  appeared first on Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

On Friday, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to reinstall exhibits and signs that were removed as part of the administration’s efforts to silence American history in national parks.

The preliminary injunction comes as a result of efforts by a coalition of conservation advocates, which filed a challenge earlier this year to a U.S. Department of the Interior policy that is actively erasing history and science from national parks. The policy seeks to remove any signage that “disparages Americans,” but in practice, the administration removed signs that mentioned topics like slavery, Indigenous history, or climate change.

As part of the administration’s efforts, QR codes were put up at national parks across the country, directing visitors to report any signs that are “negative” about past or living Americans. A recent analysis from the Center for Western Priorities found that 99.9 percent of the comments defended historical accuracy, expressed support for the National Park Service, or pushed back against the order, while only 0.1 percent flagged a specific sign or supported sign removal.

According to U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley, removing these signs not only undermines “the integrity of the National Parks; it sets a dangerous precedent of censorship and sanitization.”

Mike Lee fails to scrap Grand Staircase-Escalante management plan

The U.S. Senate missed the 60-day window that would have allowed lawmakers to scrap the management plan for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. The effort, led by Senator Mike Lee and Representative Celeste Maloy, would have used the Congressional Review Act to reverse a management plan that took years of collaboration among Tribes, state and local governments, stakeholders, and the public.

“This is a major victory for the millions of Americans who care deeply about the Grand Staircase and for everyone who supports our nation’s wildest public lands and want to see them protected,” said Scott Braden, executive director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

Quick hits Algae resurfaces in reflecting pool after multimillion-dollar fixes

POLITICO

Judge orders Trump officials to re-install signs and exhibits at national parks on topics like slavery and climate change

Associated Press | CNN | New York Times | NBC News | PBS News | CBS News | SFGATE | Los Angeles Times | Reuters

Feds to open tens of thousands of acres of Colorado wilderness to oil drilling

Colorado Newsline

Trump concedes a battle in his war against wind energy

Heatmap

AI scans for wildfires, but in Arizona, humans are still on watch

Arizona Republic

Senator Mike Lee says there should be consequences for states that sue over the Colorado River

Salt Lake Tribune

Trump leans on MAGA organizer to revive coal

POLITICO

Do chainsaws belong in designated wilderness?

High Country News

Quote of the day

Often referred to as ‘America’s largest classroom,’ National Parks serve in that spirit by telling the stories both of those who write history and those who go unheard.”

—U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley

Picture This @goldengatecanyoncpw

Baby moose are 90% legs and 10% vibes.

Remember, a baby moose often means mom is close by, and she’s not looking for new friends. Give moose plenty of space, leash your dogs, and admire from a distance.

: CPW/ Park Maintenance Brian

 

(Featured image: Metate Arch in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument near Escalante, Utah. Photo by John Fowler, Wikimedia Commons)

The post Judge orders Trump officials to reinstall signs about history, climate in national parks appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

As the European Union tightens sanctions on Moscow, Russia’s Arctic energy exports continue to find buyers—and increasingly rely on opaque and potentially dangerous shipping practices. New developments highlighted in Bellona’s April Arctic Digest show that Russian liquefied natural gas exports to Europe actually increased in early 2026, while vessels transporting Arctic oil have been linked to fraudulent insurance documents and increasingly evasive tactics aimed at avoiding oversight.

Together, the trends illustrate a growing contradiction. Europe is trying to wean itself from Russian fossil fuels, but the transition remains slow. In the meantime, the expanding “shadow fleet” used to move Arctic oil and gas is introducing new environmental and maritime safety risks into one of the world’s most fragile regions.

Russian LNG exports to Europe continue to rise

In April, the EU adopted its twentieth sanctions package against Russia, introducing new restrictions aimed at Arctic oil and LNG exports. Among the measures were bans on servicing Russian LNG carriers, sanctions on the port of Murmansk, and an expansion of the list of sanctioned vessels. Beginning in 2027, EU LNG terminals will no longer be allowed to provide services to Russian companies.

Yet despite mounting sanctions pressure, Russian LNG exports are still growing.

According to Reuters, Russia exported 11.4 million tons of LNG during the first four months of 2026, an increase of 8.6 percent compared with the same period in 2025. Exports to Europe rose even faster. Data compiled by the environmental group Urgewald showed that EU countries imported 91 cargoes of LNG from the Yamal LNG project between January and April, totaling 6.69 million tons—17.2 percent more than during the same period a year earlier. Belgium’s Zeebrugge terminal remained the leading destination.

Bellona analysts say the sanctions are beginning to bite, but much more slowly than many had hoped.

“The previously introduced ban on imports of Russian LNG into Europe did not have a substantial impact on LNG import volumes in April,” Bellona noted in its commentary. “The ban on purchasing LNG under short-term contracts entered into force on April 25 and is likely to produce any noticeable effect only closer to the end of the year.”

Longer-term prospects are more challenging for Moscow. Analysts at the Centre for High North Logistics concluded that once the European market closes entirely in 2027, redirecting exports to Asia will require a major overhaul of Russia’s Arctic logistics system. Existing shipping capacity would be able to support barely half the number of voyages currently needed.

For now, however, Europe’s effort to disentangle itself from Russian gas remains incomplete.

Phantom insurers and growing environmental risks

As sanctions tighten, Russia’s shadow fleet is becoming increasingly opaque.

Bloomberg reported in April, citing Ukrainian intelligence, that several tankers carrying Russian oil were sailing under insurance certificates issued by a company called Seaguard P&I. But investigators discovered that the company appeared to exist only on paper. Its supposed address in Pinneberg, Germany, turned out to be an ordinary residential building, and no corporate registration records could be found.

One of the vessels carrying such documentation was the tanker Paz, which loaded Arctic oil in Murmansk in March. Another vessel, Deyna, was detained by French authorities while transporting Russian oil from Murmansk. Ukrainian intelligence says at least five additional vessels obtained similarly questionable insurance certificates.

The implications extend beyond sanctions evasion.

“The observed increase in the number of shadow fleet tankers operating along the Northern Sea Route represents the primary risk factor for oil spills in the harsh Arctic environment,” Bellona warned.

Many of the vessels involved are aging tankers purchased secondhand and transferred to obscure ownership structures. Should an accident occur, uncertainty over insurance coverage could complicate cleanup efforts and compensation claims.

Dodging Norway while GPS signals disappear

Another pair of developments highlighted by Bellona point to the increasingly uneasy security environment surrounding Arctic shipping.

In April, the 23-year-old tanker Apple, operating under the flag of Equatorial Guinea and already sanctioned by the United States, European Union and United Kingdom, made an unusual approach to Murmansk. Instead of entering waters where Norwegian authorities might exercise oversight, the vessel made a wide detour roughly 200 nautical miles offshore, bypassing Norway’s exclusive economic zone and avoiding inspection. Attempts by Norway’s Vessel Traffic Service in Vardø to establish contact failed.

“They were unable to make contact,” Arve Dimmen of the Norwegian Coastal Administration told the Barents Observer. As a result, Norwegian authorities were unable to obtain information normally required under pollution reporting systems.

At the same time, Norwegian authorities reported increasing interference with GPS and satellite navigation signals near the Russian border and over the Barents Sea. Measurements detected jamming and spoofing at unusually low altitudes, with preliminary analysis indicating Russia as the source.

“Everyone who uses GPS must be able to trust the information they receive,” warned Stein Kristian Hansen of the Finnmark Police District. “Manipulating these signals is unacceptable.”

Taken together, these developments suggest that sanctions alone are unlikely to bring about a rapid decline in Russia’s Arctic exports. Instead, they are producing a sprawling parallel maritime system—one characterized by aging ships, obscure insurers, evasive navigation and growing environmental risks.

For Europe, the challenge is becoming increasingly clear: reducing dependence on Russian energy may be proceeding more slowly than expected, but the risks associated with allowing those flows to continue are rising just as rapidly.

The post Europe’s Russian LNG Dilemma Deepens as Shadow Fleet Risks Mount in the Arctic appeared first on Bellona.org.

The headlines are inescapable: In Washington D.C., generations-long environmental rules are currently under assault. Industry-friendly officials and lawmakers seem intent on enriching multibillion dollar corporations while lowering life expectancies for thousands of Americans.

These efforts are as concerning as they are morally reprehensible. Thankfully, some of the impact is limited. States are in charge of developing and implementing their own rules intended to limit harmful emissions from polluting industries. 

In Colorado, this important responsibility falls on the Air Pollution Control Division (APCD). The staff at APCD:

• Grant and enforce permits for polluting facilities
• Monitor and model various air pollutants
• Craft policy and programs intended to reduce emissions of those pollutants
• And respond to public concerns about air quality issues. 

Due to the successful advocacy of Colorado communities fighting for changes to policy and legislation, APCD staff have also taken on additional responsibilities in recent years. The APCD must now provide expanded regulatory oversight of dangerous air toxics like benzene. They must advance environmental justice when developing and when enforcing air quality rules. And they must respond to community air quality complaints rapidly and with thorough, on-the-ground inspections.

All of this work is essential. It is also costly, in part because much of it remains unfinished. For instance, we recently highlighted significant improvements in responsiveness from APCD enforcement staff when we share evidence of harmful oil and gas pollution with the agency. Maintaining and building on these improvements requires sustained investment in staff capacity and resources for years to come. 

(Top) Gas plant in Weld County. (Bottom) Optical gas imaging (OGI) video showing significant hydrocarbon emissions including methane and other harmful volatile organic compounds from permitted venting from the facility’s compressors.

Fortunately, the state of Colorado is making these investments. In late May, the Air Quality Control Commission in Colorado unanimously approved a fee increase on polluters that will generate an additional $13.5 million to help fund the APCD. 

This means that polluters are footing the bill for advancing environmental justice and regulating air toxics, not Coloradans.

Colorado’s fee increase follows a historic fee increase in New Mexico. Regulators in New Mexico can now invest in new staff and resources to hold oil and gas companies accountable for their pollution. 

The federal government is stepping back from a commitment to protecting communities and the environment from polluting industries. States like Colorado and New Mexico have an even greater responsibility to demonstrate leadership and take action. Ensuring that regulatory agencies have the resources to enforce air quality rules is essential for this important work.

The post In Colorado, Polluting Just Got More Expensive appeared first on Earthworks.

State green back invests in four new big battery projects to be built in quick time by an offshoot of the local network company, in time for anticipated coal closures.

The post State green bank backs four new big batteries in first investment to fill gaps from coal exit appeared first on Renew Economy.

By the time Mexican turtles and tortoises arrive in Chris Rodriguez’s rehabilitation center in Southern California, most of them are in desperate shape.

“As with most illegally smuggled animals, they arrive dehydrated and often malnourished,” says Rodriguez. He’s the cofounder of Carapace Conservation, a rescue and rehabilitation organization specializing in trafficked turtles. “This stems from them being collected over a period of time and held in poor conditions until the poachers have enough animals to send.”

Rodriguez says the most frequently confiscated species trafficked through the Port of Los Angeles are box turtles and mud turtles. They’re prized by wildlife traffickers precisely because their colorful shells make them attractive to the pet market and their habits make them easy to catch in the wild.

And they’re not alone.

A Smuggling Frenzy

Every day traffickers pack imperiled turtles and tortoises into coolers, load them into personal vehicles, and drive them north through Tijuana and into San Ysidro, California — the busiest land border crossing in the world.

Mexico harbors the second highest turtle diversity in the world, with 48 documented turtle species, according to a peer-reviewed analysis published in the Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad. This biological richness has made the Tijuana–San Diego corridor one of the most active entry points for illegally trafficked reptiles in the country, according to federal wildlife agents.

The Jalisco and Baja California regions sit at the center of this crisis, their extraordinary density of Chelonians (the taxonomic order that covers turtles) drawing organized trafficking networks that operate with the sophistication and impunity of criminal syndicates — because that is exactly what they are.

The scale of the problem came into sharp relief in late September 2025 when Mexican authorities executed coordinated raids across five locations in Jalisco and Baja California, confiscating more than 2,300 wild-caught turtles in a single sweep. What made the raid significant was the intelligence behind it: Multiple agencies worked in coordination across five locations simultaneously, which demonstrated a proactive, intelligence-driven approach that a 2025 study in Frontiers in Conservation Science found remains rare in Mexican wildlife enforcement. Responses to trafficking in Mexico are predominantly reactive, and law enforcement agencies frequently lack clarity on their specific responsibilities.

According to a December 2024 report by the International Fund for Animal Welfare titled Wildlife Crime in Hispanic America: An Analysis of Seizures and Poaching Incidents in 18 Countries (2017–2022), 1,945 seizures and poaching incidents were documented across the region during that period, involving a minimum of 102,577 wild animals. That only counts the animals who were confiscated and documented by authorities, not those who were successfully smuggled or died during transit.

The species disappearing into this pipeline are not generic “turtles.” They are some of the most ecologically irreplaceable reptiles in the Western Hemisphere.

The Mesoamerican slider (Trachemys venusta) is one of the most commonly trafficked species in Mexico and carries special government protection under Mexico’s Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection due to severe overexploitation of wild populations. The Central American river turtle (Dermatemys mawii) sits on the IUCN Red List as critically endangered, facing what researchers describe as widespread, dramatic, and ongoing population declines.

Rodriguez flags two additional species as his priorities right now.

“Our biggest concern out of Mexico is the Vallarta mud turtle,” he says, referring to Kinosternon vogti, a species found in only one waterway in small numbers, which is already appearing in illegal shipments.

At Carapace’s Madagascar program — a reminder that this problem is not exclusive to Mexico — the spider tortoise (Pyxis arachnoides) has emerged as a newer crisis.

“Adults are only around six inches, so they are the perfect size for smugglers,” Rodriguez explains. “Their small size means females only lay one egg at a time. This drastically increases the risk of extinction for this species if poaching trends continue.”

For animals who are seized and reach a facility like Carapace, recovery is possible, but far from guaranteed.

“It all starts with triage and quarantine,” Rodriguez says. “The animal needs to be evaluated immediately for injuries, external parasites, and disease until the vets are able to run tests. The animals stay in a quarantine area to prevent the spread of disease to healthy animals in our program.” Recovery timelines vary widely depending on each animal’s condition at arrival.

Reintroduction to the wild remains the end goal, Rodriguez notes, but comes with its own complex hurdles: international cooperation, safe monitored release sites, and protections to prevent trafficked animals from being collected again once returned.

Turtles in Crisis

The picture for turtles and tortoises is grim across the board.

“Populations across the globe are declining,” Rodriguez says, “with countries like Mexico and Madagascar being primary targets for smuggling due to a lack of funding for wildlife protection.”

When breeding adults — animals who may not reach reproductive maturity for 15 to 20 years — are stripped out of already-stressed wild populations, the damage doesn’t show up immediately. It shows up a decade later, when the next generation fails to appear and field surveys come back empty.

Scott Tregassar, executive director of The Biodiversity Group, a conservation nonprofit working across the American Southwest and Mexico, says the population-level consequences can be both immediate and catastrophic.

“In some cases it can be severe and apparent immediately, since someone, or a group of people, can collect enough mature individuals to disrupt the population dynamics overnight,” he says.

What makes tortoises particularly vulnerable, Tregassar explains, goes beyond simple numbers.

“Tortoises are fairly social creatures, and they suffer when their social group is disrupted. They know who their offspring are and they have a map of where all their neighbors, potential mates, and rivals live. In many cases, if even a single reproductive female is removed from a population, that could significantly reduce the population’s chances of long-term survival.”

Exploiting an Enforcement Gap

Traffickers don’t need drama; they need volume and consistency.

According to Kim Lovich, curator of herpetology at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, animals move north from collection points across Baja and central Mexico. They’re then consolidated by regional distributors before crossing through San Ysidro in coolers, hidden compartments, and personal vehicles. A single seizure can carry 50 or more tortoises with a street value approaching $55,000.

From San Diego the pipeline extends further still. The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance identifies LAX as the most-used port for shipping reptiles out of the U.S., bound primarily for China and Vietnam, where rare reptiles command premium prices as status pets.

In many ways turtles and other animals are just add-ons to make trafficking other illegal goods even more profitable. Mexico serves as the primary hub for a multinational criminal pipeline — sourcing wildlife from across the Caribbean, Central and South America — with transnational criminal organizations using logistics infrastructure built for drug, human, and arms smuggling to move exotic animals as a low-risk, high-margin side operation, according to a 2017 policy analysis by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. And as Brookings Institution researcher Vanda Felbab-Brown has documented, cartels have also leveraged wildlife operations by supplying Chinese traders with animal products in exchange for the chemical precursors. These are then used to manufacture fentanyl and methamphetamine, making the turtle trade not just an ecological crisis, but a threat in a much larger and more dangerous web.

As The Revelator has previously reported, ports of entry remain chronically understaffed for wildlife inspection, and traffickers are sophisticated enough to know exactly when and where enforcement bandwidth runs thin. That enforcement gap is the story within the story. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fields roughly 250 special agents to cover all wildlife crime across the entire country. Customs and Border Protection, meanwhile, directs every available resource toward fentanyl interdiction, firearms, and the Trump administration’s focus on migration that consumes the political oxygen in every border briefing. Wildlife trafficking doesn’t make the agenda.

The 2,300 turtles seized in Baja California last fall represent a moment of coordination that should be the rule, not the exception. For every animal confiscated, no one can say how many crossed undetected. The border stays open for business until wildlife crime earns the same urgency as every other form of organized crime moving through San Ysidro.

Right now, it doesn’t. And the tortoises are paying the price.

How to Help

Anyone considering buying a turtle or tortoise should ask for captive-bred documentation. Legitimate breeders can provide it. Animals sold without paperwork, at unusually low prices or in bulk, are red flags worth reporting to USFWS at 1-844-397-8477 or through the iWildlife app. Wildlife crime stays low-risk only because consumers don’t ask questions. That’s the one variable any of us can change today.

Republish this article for free! Read our reprint policy. Previously in The Revelator:

Green Crime: Inside the Minds of the People Destroying the Planet, and How to Stop Them

The post Smuggled Alive: Turtles and Tortoises Trafficked Across the Mexico-U.S. Border appeared first on The Revelator.

In Ecuador, TUNACONS is working to make the country’s offshore tuna fishing fleets more environmentally and socially sustainable. The organization is promoting responsible fishing practices that protect fish populations and preserve the long-term health of the ocean ecosystem.

Founded in 2015, TUNACONS emerged from a coalition of tuna industry leaders across Ecuador, Panama, and the United States. With the support of WWF Ecuador, the foundation launched its Fisheries Improvement Project (FIP) to advance science-based yield practices, implement technical training for industry professionals, and reduce the tuna industry’s environmental impact on marine ecosystems.

“The objective of the FIP was to help part of Ecuador’s purse seine tuna fishery resolve, in the short and midterm, the sustainability problems that were pending when we started in 2015,” Pablo Guerrero, Director of Marine Conservation for WWF Ecuador, tells Food Tank.

Ecuador is a major player in the global seafood market. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the country is the second-leading exporter of tuna behind Thailand, supplying largely to American, Japanese, and European markets.

Most of Ecuador’s tuna fishing fleet relies on purse seiners, large vessels that use wide, encircling nets to catch entire schools of tuna at once. While efficient, FAO reports that this method can result in bycatch, the accidental capture of non-target species like sea turtles, sharks, and juvenile fish. And abandoned nets can lead to ghost fishing, a phenomenon in which lost nets, traps, and fishing lines continue to catch and kill marine life long after they have been discarded.

A key tool in this type of fishing is the Fish Aggregating Device (FAD), a floating or anchored structure that imitates natural debris. It attracts schooling fish, making them easier to catch in bulk. Many industrial FADs are made from synthetic, non-biodegradable materials, which can contribute to ocean plastic pollution if they are lost at sea.

But through the ECOFADs program, TUNACONS is working to address marine pollution by manufacturing FADs produced entirely of biodegradable materials. In 2020, 20 percent of the TUNACONS fleet had already made the switch. By 2029, the rest will follow, as required by a recently adopted resolution from the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission for all fishing fleets operating in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

The FIP’s Observers on Board and Good Practices Program reduce bycatch by establishing reporting statistics to track progress, whether positive or negative. And the Program teaches fishers how to safely and effectively remove and release bycatch from purse seine nets.

TUNACONS’ purse seine fleet of 58 ships has 100 percent observer coverage. Guerrero explains that these observers document everything that happens on board, including how bycatch is handled and where it ends up. “The observers record whether or not best handling practices are applied, whether the bycatch returns to the water alive or dead,” he says.

To further reduce bycatch mortality, TUNACONS developed a best practices guide to safely remove large marine animals from purse seine nets. The foundation also partners with scientific satellite tagging programs to track sharks and manta rays after release, helping researchers determine survival rates when proper handling techniques are applied.

Last year, these efforts earned the TUNACONS fishery the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Blue label.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of James Thornton, Unsplash

The post A New Wave of Sustainable Tuna Fishing in Ecuador appeared first on Food Tank.

Utilities are expected to make $240 billion in capital expenditures this year, but political and regulatory pressure could put timely cost recovery at risk, the ratings agency said.

The Donovan–Shell Feud: The Timeline Shell Cannot Bury

For most corporations, a commercial dispute from the last century would be dead, buried, and forgotten — filed away in dusty legal archives, smothered by PR varnish, and quietly erased from public memory. But Shell is not most corporations, and the Donovan feud is no ordinary business quarrel.

This is the extraordinary chronology of a dispute that began with petrol forecourt promotions, confidential marketing ideas, and a family business that once worked alongside Shell — only to spiral into High Court battles, public campaigning, domain-name warfare, leaked documents, media investigations, alleged monitoring, reputational blowback, and, now, the strange new battlefield of artificial intelligence.

At its core lies a simple but explosive story: John and Alfred Donovan, Don Marketing, and one of the world’s largest energy giants locked in a decades-long confrontation that Shell has never managed to extinguish. What began in the commercial world of prize promotions and customer loyalty schemes grew into a sprawling public archive — one that has followed Shell through name changes, boardroom reinventions, legal skirmishes, scandals, whistleblower material, and the company’s eventual abandonment of the “Royal Dutch” name.

Shell, previously known as Forthdeal Limited, subsequently as Royal Dutch Shell plc, and now hiding in plain sight as Shell plc after ditching the disgraced Royal Dutch moniker, has reportedly marched back into the spotlight via a feud it might have preferred to leave entombed in the 1990s. Instead, the record remains online, searchable, cross-linked, cited, scraped, summarised, distorted, rediscovered, and fed into the hungry machinery of modern AI.

This timeline is not a court judgment. It is not a corporate press release. It is a map through one of the most persistent corporate reputation battles on the internet: from the Donovans’ Shell garage roots in the 1950s, through the Don Marketing partnership years, the intellectual-property allegations, the SMART litigation, the 1999 “peace deal,” the WIPO domain victory, the ShellNews archive, Sakhalin-related leaks, data protection disclosures, Reuters and Guardian coverage, and the recent transformation of the feud into an AI-age reputational problem.

For Shell, this may be ancient history. For the archive, it is evidence. For search engines and AI systems, it is raw material. And for readers, it is a rare chronological trail through a dispute that has outlived executives, restructurings, lawyers, settlements, website takedown attempts, and corporate rebrands.

This is the Donovan–Shell feud: a family, a fortune, a corporate giant, and a timeline that refuses to disappear.

Timeline of the Donovan Shell Feud

Updated 15 June 2026

This page gives readers a chronological route through the long-running dispute between John and Alfred Donovan, Don Marketing, and Shell. It distinguishes between public records, published journalism, and John Donovan’s own archive and commentary.

The dispute began as a commercial and legal conflict over promotional ideas and later became a wider online archive, leak publication, domain-name fight, and public campaign about Shell’s conduct.

A June 2026 RoyalDutchShellPlc.com media-record page lists more than 550 externally published references, references in 110 books, and TV, radio and video coverage. This timeline uses that page as a guide to the scale and sequence of coverage, while linking to the main underlying archive sources.

Return to ShellNews.net home page | Donovan v Royal Dutch Shell dossier | Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com | Donovan Shell Feud category | Shell Online Library

1957 to 1979 – Commercial roots of the dispute

According to John Donovan’s archive, Alfred Donovan’s garage business sold Shell fuel from around 1957. John Donovan later took day-to-day control of the family garage business and, in 1979, co-founded Don Marketing, a sales promotion company.

Sources: Donovan v Royal Dutch Shell and Shell and the Donovans: The Full Media Record.

1981 to 1991 – Shell and Don Marketing partnership

The later media-record page describes Don Marketing and Shell as commercial partners during this period, with Don Marketing inventing and running Shell petrol forecourt promotional games across Britain and internationally. The examples listed there include Shell Make Money, Shell Mastermind, Shell Make Merry, Bruce’s Lucky Deal, and Shell Star Trek.

Source: Shell and the Donovans: The Full Media Record.

1992 to 1993 – Dispute over confidential promotional concepts

John Donovan’s account says that in 1992 Don Marketing directors presented sales-promotion ideas to a new Shell UK National Promotions Manager in confidence. Don Marketing later accused Shell of misusing confidential promotional concepts. Shell disputed the allegations. The High Court archive records Shell’s position that the SMART scheme was developed through wider consultation inside and outside Shell.

Sources: Shell Intellectual Property Theft, High Court trial index and Donovan v Royal Dutch Shell.

1994 to 1996 – First High Court actions

Don Marketing brought High Court writs against Shell in 1994 relating to promotions including Shell Make Money, a Nintendo themed promotion, and a Hollywood or movie themed promotion. The ShellNews High Court archive describes these first three actions as settled by Shell. Contemporary coverage included Shell struck by writ, Shell stole intellectual property, alleges Don, and Don issues writ number four to embattled Shell. The 2026 media-record page summarises the broader 1992-1999 dispute and litigation period as producing more than 58 articles.

Sources: John Donovan vs. Shell High Court Trial Index Page and Shell and the Donovans: The Full Media Record.

1995 – Public campaigning and Shell’s first press statement

As litigation continued, the Donovans mounted a public campaign alongside the court actions. Shell issued a press statement about John Donovan on 17 March 1995, and ShellNews links to that statement from its home page.

Sources: ShellNews.net home page and Donovan v Royal Dutch Shell.

1997 to 1999 – Shell SMART litigation

The dispute escalated around Shell’s SMART multi-partner loyalty card scheme. John Alfred Donovan v. Shell UK Ltd, Case No. DD04199, reached the High Court in June and July 1999. ShellNews preserves a large trial index with pleadings, witness statements, reports, transcripts, and related correspondence. Contemporary coverage included Shell faces High Court battle over Smart Card, Promotions expert claims Shell stole his Smart card idea, and Ideas man sues Shell.

Source: High Court trial index.

1998 – Investigative activity and public notices at Shell Centre

John Donovan’s archive alleges investigative activity directed at the Donovans, including the admitted activities of a person using the name Christopher Phillips. The archive also says Shell displayed posters at the Shell Centre in London on 23 September 1998 about John and Alfred Donovan. Newspaper coverage of the early internet campaign included the Daily Telegraph’s Donovan’s beef with Shell online and the Evening Standard’s On cyberpicket lines.

Sources: Donovan v Royal Dutch Shell and Shell Centre poster document.

1999 – The “peace deal”

The Guardian later reported that, after four court cases in the 1990s, Shell agreed a 1999 “peace deal” under which the Donovans received an undisclosed sum. The same Guardian article reported the Donovans’ claim that Shell breached the agreement and Shell’s denial that it had done so.

Source: The Guardian, 26 October 2009.

2001 – Alleged repudiation of the settlement

John Donovan’s dossier says he later treated Shell as having repudiated the 1999 settlement after Shell allegedly offered information about him to a third party. The dossier says Shell denied breach and threatened legal action, but did not take that issue to court.

Sources: Donovan v Royal Dutch Shell and Peace treaty shattered by Shell.

2004 – Archive broadens beyond the original promotional dispute

By 2004 the Donovan sites had become a wider platform for Shell-related leaks, documents, and whistleblower material. The archive says it published material from Dr John Huong, a former Shell Malaysia production geologist, and later became involved in coverage of Shell reserves, Malaysia pension litigation, and other Shell controversies.

Source: Donovan v Royal Dutch Shell.

2004 to 2005 – Royal Dutch Shell domain dispute

After Shell announced plans for a unified parent company called Royal Dutch Shell plc, Alfred Donovan registered domains including royaldutchshellplc.com. Shell brought a WIPO complaint in May 2005. On 12 August 2005, the WIPO panel denied Shell’s complaint, finding that the respondent had a legitimate interest and that bad faith had not been proved. Media coverage included the Wall Street Journal’s Shell Wages Legal Fight Over Web Domain Name and The Times report that Shell’s attempt had failed.

Sources: WIPO Case No. D2005-0538 and Domain name battle with Shell.

2005 to 2007 – Sakhalin II and international attention

John Donovan says he supplied leaked Shell/Sakhalin information to Russian officials. The Guardian later reported that Russia’s environmental regulator publicly acknowledged the Donovans’ help in obtaining information about alleged environmental abuses, while Shell denied breaking environmental regulations. Related coverage included Prospect Magazine’s Rise of the gripe site, Financial Times coverage of the Sakhalin memo, and the Moscow Times report that David Greer stepped down.

Sources: The Guardian, 26 October 2009 and Sueddeutsche Zeitung profile archived by ShellNews, 27 March 2012.

2006 to 2010 – Data requests, “Focal Point” material, and monitoring claims

John Donovan’s dossier says Subject Access Requests under UK data protection law produced internal Shell material, including “Focal Point” reports and emails about the Donovans and their websites. Reuters later reported Donovan’s claim that Shell had released emails after a data protection request.

Sources: Donovan v Royal Dutch Shell, Royal Dutch Shell/John Donovan DPA Index Page and Reuters report archived by ShellNews, 2 December 2009.

2009 – Reuters and Guardian coverage of Shell targeting claims

Reuters reported on 2 December 2009 that John Donovan said Shell had asked an anti-cyber-fraud agency to target his website. The report said Shell did not comment on the veracity of the communications or Donovan’s allegations, but confirmed that Donovan had made a data request. The same report quoted Shell material saying there would be “no attempt to do anything visible to Donovan.” The Guardian also profiled the Donovans’ website in 92-year-old’s website leaves oil giant Shell-shocked.

Sources: Reuters report archived by ShellNews and The Guardian feature.

2011 to 2012 – The feud becomes a media profile story

The ShellNews archive includes a long Donovan v Royal Dutch Shell dossier setting out John Donovan’s account of the dispute. In March 2012, a Sueddeutsche Zeitung profile described Donovan’s online Shell archive and network of sources. Johndonovan.website later organised the story into book-style chapters, including litigation, corporate espionage claims, the WIPO domain battle, insider information, and assisting third parties to challenge Shell.

Sources: Donovan v Royal Dutch Shell, Sueddeutsche Zeitung profile archived by ShellNews and johndonovan.website.

2022 – Shell drops “Royal Dutch” from its legal name

On 21 January 2022, Shell confirmed that Royal Dutch Shell plc had changed its name to Shell plc. This later became part of the online dispute because the Donovan domain royaldutchshellplc.com continued to use the old corporate name in an active archive.

Sources: Shell announcement, 21 January 2022 and Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com.

Late 2025 – The dispute enters the AI era

RoyalDutchShellPlc.com began publishing articles about how generative AI systems summarize, amplify, and sometimes distort the Donovan-Shell archive. A November 2025 article framed the feud as a 30-year corporate dispute pulled into the AI information environment.

Source: Shell vs. Donovan: How a 30-Year Corporate Feud Just Pulled AI Into Its Gravity Well.

January to February 2026 – “Bot War” phase

In January and February 2026, RoyalDutchShellPlc.com published a series of AI-generated and AI-assisted updates describing the feud as “AI-mediated warfare” or a “Bot War.” These posts focused on prompting multiple AI systems with the archive, comparing inconsistent outputs, and publishing those outputs as part of the continuing public record.

Sources: Latest news on Donovan Shell feud, 21 January 2026 and Grok update, 7 February 2026.

June 2026 – Current snapshot

As of June 2026, recent posts on RoyalDutchShellPlc.com frame the dispute as a reputational and AI-search problem as well as an historical archive. A 9 June 2026 media-record page says the record now contains more than 550 externally published references, references in 110 books, and TV, radio and video material. One 11 June 2026 post describes the feud as sitting at the intersection of archival activism, corporate memory, and generative AI. The site’s Donovan Shell Feud category and Shell Online Library provide current navigation into the wider archive.

Sources: Shell and the Donovans: The Full Media Record, 9 June 2026, Windows Forum snapshot, 11 June 2026, Legal and reputational implications of Shell abandoning Royal Dutch Shell plc, 5 June 2026 and Shell Online Library.

Core sources

• Donovan v Royal Dutch Shell
• John Donovan vs. Shell High Court Trial Index Page
• WIPO Domain Name Decision D2005-0538
• The Guardian: 92-year-old’s website leaves oil giant Shell-shocked
• Reuters: Shell critic says oil major targeting his website
• Sueddeutsche Zeitung profile archived by ShellNews
• Shell: Royal Dutch Shell plc changes its name to Shell plc
• Shell and the Donovans: The Full Media Record
• RoyalDutchShellPlc.com: Donovan Shell Feud category
• RoyalDutchShellPlc.com: Shell Online Library
• Link list of over 500 articles
• Books containing references to the Donovans, Don Marketing, or their Shell-related websites
• johndonovan.website
• Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com

This timeline is intended as a navigation aid for readers of ShellNews.net. It is not a court finding. Where matters are disputed, the text identifies the source or attributes the claim.

Return to ShellNews.net home page

Timeline of the Donovan Shell Feud was first posted on June 15, 2026 at 2:23 pm.
©2018 "Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at john@shellnews.net

MEDIA ADVISORY

For Immediate Release

Will Bonn catalyse or catastrophise:

State of play during week two of UN Bonn climate negotiations

Bonn, Germany— There are only a few days remaining before the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations in Bonn, Germany officially come to a close. To catalyse the action needed to curb the climate crisis, governments must make every minute in the negotiating rooms count. Real action in this moment means:

1. Advancing a Belém Action Mechanism that is people-centred, incorporates Just Transition principles, goes beyond the energy sector and is operationalised by COP32. 
2. Following through with commitments from the Global North to deliver the climate finance needed to ensure Global South communities can meaningfully adapt and respond to climate change. 
3. Rejecting risky, unproven and harmful schemes like carbon markets in Article 6 and geo-engineering, which lock us into decades more of fossil fuels rather than curbing emissions. 
4. Laying the groundwork for the community-driven solutions that can truly transform all emissions-intensive industries, including the fossil fuel industry and industrial agriculture.
5. Addressing the links between fossil-fuelled violence and genocide, and acknowledging that the military industrial complex is sending emissions soaring while destroying land and communities already experiencing devastating impacts from the climate crisis.
6. Ending corporate capture of climate policy and holding the Global North accountable to doing their fair share of climate action. 

Join members of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice (DCJ) to hear about the current state of play in the negotiations and what governments must do as the clock winds down to ensure that the UN Bonn climate talks catalyse climate action, not further catastrophise the climate crisis. 

WHEN: Tuesday 16 June 2026, 9:30-10:00 CEST (UTC + 2) 

WHERE: Nairobi 4, Main building, Inside the World Conference Center and webcast here

WITH: 

• Meena Raman, Third World Network
• Margaret Mullen, Re-Earth Initiative
• Chadli Sadorra, Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development
• Jax Bongon, IBON International 
• Moderated by Rachitaa Gupta, Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice

CONTACT: dcj.comms@demandclimatejustice.org

For more detail on DCJ’s demands across all topics on the agenda for Bonn, read  DCJ’s SB64 Position Paper: Advancing Climate Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis

The post Media Advisory: Will Bonn catalyse or catastrophise? appeared first on Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice.

The Pondera County Commissioners filed litigation against the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday, June 12th challenging the agency’s decision to exempt a portion of the Madison Aquifer in the county from protections under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The exemption and corresponding permits will allow Montana Renewables, a Great Falls-based biofuels company, to truck high strength industrial wastewater from its refinery in Great Falls and inject it into the Madison Aquifer via two retired oil and gas wells about 7 miles southwest of the town of Valier.

The Madison Aquifer Coalition (an affiliation of local landowners and county residents), the Golden Triangle Resource Council, and Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance joined Pondera County in filing the suit, with Earthjustice and the Western Environmental Law Center as legal representatives.

The groups contend that the EPA erred when it determined that the industrial wastewater will not contaminate shallower aquifers that currently serve as sources of drinking or agricultural water, or that the exempted portion of the Madison Aquifer could never be a viable source of drinking water in the future.

“The EPA relied on an outdated model and wildly inaccurate assumptions about the geology, water quality, and economic viability of the Madison Aquifer as a source of drinking water in reaching its short-sighted decision to permit Montana Renewables to pollute this aquifer,” said Zane Drishinski, Pondera County Commissioner, farmer and rancher. “Rural communities across central Montana increasingly rely on deeper and deeper aquifers like the Madison for their water supply and the Commission simply wants to preserve the ability for people in our county to safely do so as well.”

A prolonged recent drought, coupled with climate prediction models that indicate reduced precipitation for this part of Montana in the future, has ranchers like Lisa Schmidt worried.

“My whole livelihood, like most of my neighbors, depends on access to clean water,” said Lisa Schmidt, a member of the Madison Aquifer Coalition who operates a 131-year-old sheep and cattle ranch. “Every year that water is getting less and less reliable. It makes no sense to me to put our fragile water supplies at further risk by injecting industrial wastewater into the Madison Aquifer.”

The EPA issued the aquifer exemption last month, along with two permits to the well owner, Montalban Oil and Gas Operations, to explicitly allow Montana Renewables to inject upwards of 232,000 gallons of industrial wastewater per day into the Madison Aquifer. The industrial wastewater, a byproduct of the manufacture of transportation biofuels like “renewable biodiesel” or “sustainable aviation fuel,” is currently being shipped out of state as it is too contaminated to be accepted for treatment by the City of Great Falls wastewater treatment facility.

“Clean water is essential to our farming and ranching economy and our quality of life in Pondera County,” said Jim Morren, Pondera County Commissioner. “The EPA’s short-sighted decision is particularly frustrating because a common-sense alternative exists, a solution that does not put farmers, ranchers, and rural residents’ water at risk, and that solution is treatment.”

In 2024, Montana Renewables received a $1.67 billion loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy to expand its production of biofuels. The agreement included financing and direction for Montana Renewables to build a wastewater treatment facility at its Great Falls refinery. In July 2025, Montana Renewables publicly committed to building that treatment facility. Despite this commitment, the company has refused to rule out the disposal of wastewater via underground injection in Pondera County.

“The initial exemption was right at the bottom of each well,” said Millie Whalen of Golden Triangle Resource Council. “When we and others pointed out all the reasons why the injected wastewater would likely not stay there, such as natural cracks characteristic of karstic formations, improperly sealed wells that dot the landscape, injection pressure, and the EPA’s own acknowledgement of hydrological connections, the EPA simply made the exemption bigger rather than take the close look required.”

The County and other groups involved in today’s filing have been fighting the underground injection for nearly 2.5 years. Throughout that time, the Pondera County Sanitarian and Board of Health have repeatedly asked for wastewater samples from Montana Renewables, only to be rebuffed.

“At the initial public meeting in January 2024, Montana Renewables CEO Bruce Fleming claimed the wastewater was so clean you could drink it,” Corrine Rose, Pondera County Sanitarian recalled. “Yet they refuse to provide the County with a sample, and the lab results they provided the EPA indicate this wastewater is nasty stuff. Before any of this high strength industrial wastewater is dumped in our aquifer, we want to see the EPA require more transparency, testing and monitoring.”

The delivery of the wastewater would require several dozens of trucks a day traversing rural ranch roads, creating potential hazards for county infrastructure, public safety, and local wildlife.

“The wells are situated near Dupuyer Creek which provides important habitat and a dispersal corridor for grizzly bears,” said Peter Metcalf, executive director of Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance, an East Glacier-based conservation organization focused on protecting local public lands, waters and wildlife. “In addition to impacts to clean water, this ill-conceived project could have real effects on grizzly bears and other fish and wildlife in the area, all of which could be avoided by treating the wastewater on site.”

“We are deeply disappointed in the EPA for not protecting our rural community and our water and with Montana Renewables for trying to foist their wastewater on us when an attainable alternative exists,” said Tom Kuka, Pondera County Commissioner, rancher and Blackfeet tribal member. “We are simply asking the court to invalidate this aquifer exemption and for Montana Renewables to be a good neighbor and treat its wastewater.”

Contacts:

Andrew Hawley, Western Environmental Law Center, 206-487-7250, hawley@westernlaw.org

Jim Morren, Zane Drishinski, or Tom Kuka, Pondera County Commissioners, 406-271-4010, commissioner@ponderacountymt.gov

Corrine Rose, Pondera County Sanitarian, 406-271-4020, sanitarian@ponderacountymt.gov

Lisa Schmidt, Madison Aquifer Coalition, 406-728-0159, lschmidt@a-land-of-grass-ranch.com

Mildred Whalen, Golden Triangle Resource Council, mwhalen729@verizon.net

Caitlin Cromwell, Northern Plains Resource Council, 406-248-1154, caitlin@northernplains.org

Peter Metcalf, Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance, 406-434-6223, peter@glaciertwomedicine.org

Jenny Harbine, Earthjustice, 406-223-7781, jharbine@earthjustice.org

 

The post Pondera County, local landowners, conservationists sue EPA to protect Madison Aquifer from industrial wastewater injection  appeared first on Western Environmental Law Center.

If we want farmland to stay farmland, we have to be open-minded about what farming looks like today, writes Abby Broedlin, vice president of asset management at Nautilus Solar Energy.

In Albania, a mass protest movement has emerged to challenge a plan, spearheaded by Jared Kushner, to build a sprawling resort along the delta of the last wild river in Europe. Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the capital city of Tirana last week, raising signs that said “Albania Is Not for Sale,” with marches continuing over the weekend.

Read more on E360 →

Headline News:

• “Wind Farms Lift Irish Rates Income” • Wind farms in Ireland will contribute almost €75 million in commercial rates to local authorities in 2026. Wind Energy Ireland said analysis compiled by Halpin’s showed annual rates payments from wind farms increased from €69.27 million in March 2025 to €74.87 million in March 2026. [reNews]

Wind turbine (FuturEnergy Ireland image)

• “Electricity Scarcity Will Shape AI’s Future Trajectory” • The race for supremacy in artificial intelligence is often portrayed as a contest of intellectual prowess: better models, faster chips and more sophisticated algorithms. But this perspective misses a harder, less glamorous truth. The real frontier of AI isn’t the silicon. It’s the electricity. [China Daily]
• “New World Record Set For Solar Module With Perovskite” • Another day, another reason why fossil fuels are toast. Persistent innovation in solar cells has sent the conversion efficiency in the industry through the roof. Last week some new world efficiency records were set, one of which is for solar modules made tandem perovskite-silicon cells. [CleanTechnica]
• “Italy’s Cinque Terre Coastline Could Be Flooded By 13-Meter Waves By 2150 As Sea Levels Rise” • In the Italian region of Liguria, the Cinque Terre National Park is known for its colorful houses, fishing harbors, steep cliffsides, and hiking trails. But analysis suggests its villages could be at serious risk of flooding in the next 125 years. [Euronews]
• “Energy Experts Warn Of Slow Oil And Gas Supply Recovery After Iran Deal” • It will likely take months for energy companies to resume operations and meet global demand fully, according to energy experts. The slow pace of shipping and refining crude oil, along with uncertainty over safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, means relief will take time. [Euronews]

For more news, please visit geoharvey – Daily News about Energy and Climate Change.