Trump Sued to Save Eight Species on the Brink

President Donald Trump's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has failed to safeguard seven animals and one plant that its own scientists admit desperately need protection. It's just the latest lapse of this agency under Trump, which has so far protected fewer species under the Endangered Species Act than during any administration in more than 30 years.

"Delay means death for these creatures," said Noah Greenwald, the Center for Biological Diversity's endangered species director. "The Trump administration's refusal to protect our highly imperiled animals and plants signals a sickening hostility to wildlife and the natural world that sustains us all."

The animals are Hermes copper and Puerto Rico harlequin butterflies, Sierra Nevada red foxes, red tree voles, eastern gopher tortoises, longfin smelt, and Berry Cave salamanders. The plant is a flowering shrub called marrón bacora.

Read more in The Hill and consider making a donation to our Endangered Species Act Protection Fund.

Fighting Pollution in Court, Coast to Coast

The Center works to protect both wildlife and human health from toxic substances. In the past week, we and our allies took legal action to address three pollution cases.

We petitioned Florida to protect people from toxins in harmful algae blooms that have been linked to liver disease and neurodegenerative risks.

We sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to force action on smog and soot pollution affecting more than 1.5 million people in Arizona and Northern California.

And we sued the JBS-Swift Beef Company to stop illegal discharges of slaughterhouse pollution into Colorado's South Platte River.

We'll keep you posted on these actions — and the many other ways we're fighting toxic pollution.

Here's something to celebrate: A herd of pronghorn safely making its ancient seasonal migration thanks to a wildlife crossing over Highway 191 in Wyoming. Collisions between animals and vehicles here have been reduced by more than 85 percent since the crossing was built in 2012. Watch our video on Facebook or YouTube.

Take Action: Prevent Another Santa Barbara Oil Spill

This month marks the fourth anniversary of the catastrophic failure of the Plains All American Pipeline off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif. Its rupture on May 19, 2015, spilled more than 120,000 gallons of oil near Refugio State Beach, killing hundreds of birds and marine mammals.

Now federal agencies are considering letting the company build a new pipeline along the same route. To make matters worse, the pipeline would allow several aging offshore-drilling platforms to rise from the dead and start pumping once again.

Tell the feds to reject Plains' application to rebuild its dirty pipeline.

Take Action: Defend Public Lands From Trump's Push for Coal

In 2016 the U.S. federal coal-leasing program was officially put on hold to look at its climate pollution and faltering economics. But now President Trump wants to resume selling off our beautiful public lands to the coal industry — no matter the cost to our future — and we need your help to stop him.

His administration has simply launched a new plan for more coal leasing across the country and, in effect, told us not to worry because it'll have "no significant impacts."

That conclusion is wrong and dangerous: More than 13 percent of all U.S. carbon dioxide pollution came from federal coal in 2014. Each new lease means more harm to our air, water, wildlife and climate.

Act now to tell the Trump administration that the coal-leasing moratorium must stay.

Wild & Weird: Cruising With Cownose Rays

Cownose rays get their name from the fact that their lobed foreheads look like a cow's nose when seen from above. Did you know that a group of rays is called a "fever"?

Check out this amazing footage of a fever of cownose rays cruising the coast of Australia's Bondi Beach on Facebook or YouTube.