Just as we were putting the finishing touches on a new report, Fueling Extinction, the Obama administration delivered some really big news–the State Department rejected TransCanada’s request to build the Keystone XL Pipeline.
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| Whooping crane credit fws |
As we’ve written here previously, the Keystone XL Pipeline could have been catastrophic for one of our nation’s most endangered species, the whooping crane. This now-rejected pipeline is a tragic illustration of a simple fact: Fossil fuels are killing wildlife and putting the planet at unprecedented risk.
In continuing to use dirty fossil fuels, we are fueling extinction.
In the report, Fueling Extinction, the Endangered Species Coalition and participating member organizations highlight the top ten U.S. species threatened by fossil fuels in addition to the activists choice of the polar bear. These species range from a bivalve (tan riffleshell) to a rare wildflower (Graham’s penstemon) to the bowhead whale.
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| Bowhead whale credit FWS |
These diverse species all have at least one thing in common. They’re being driven closer to the edge of extinction by our nation’s continued reliance on energy sources produced in the age of dinosaurs.
Polar bears are seeing their habitat melt from beneath them, while facing a new threat in the form of Arctic drilling. Endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtles still recovering from the Gulf spill, are uniquely vulnerable to threats from oil and gas development. Greater sage-grouse have seen their range-wide abundance decrease between 69-99 percent from historic levels due in large part to habitat loss from oil and gas development.
Please take a few moments and read the entire report, Fueling Extinction, to learn more about the impacts of dirty fossil fuels on our nation’s most imperiled plants, birds, fish and wildlife.
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