Post by ranibilkis88888 on Feb 17, 2024 8:51:27 GMT 1
On december 20, the u.S. Department of the interior's bureau of ocean energy management (boem) held a lease sale to auction oil and gas drilling rights in the gulf of mexico. Environmental groups and the u.S. Department of the interior had attempted to postpone this sale due to concerns about protecting the critically endangered rice whale , a species whose key habitat overlaps with the lease sale areas. Scientists estimate that there are fewer than 50 rice's whales left and that the main threat to the species is the oil and gas industry. While the lease sale was made without any protection for the rice whale , environmental groups continue to explore legal and political avenues to ensure the survival of the species. On december 20, the us government auctioned off oil and gas drilling rights in the gulf of mexico despite concerns that the move could endanger a recently described, very rare baleen whale known as the rice whale ( balaenoptera ricei ). The sale, mandated by the country's inflation reduction law, took place after months of legal wrangling. In august, president joe biden's administration announced its decision to remove rice's whale habitat from sale after research found the range was larger than previously believed and extended across almost the entire continental shelf of the gulf. This research was also the basis for the critical habitat designation for the whale currently proposed by the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa). Environmental groups and the biden administration also supported additional protections for the species, including enforcing boat speed limits in whale country. The oil and gas industry then sued the administration to restore the whales' range, which covers about 2.4 million hectares (6 million acres), in the sale area, and a judge in a federal court in louisiana ruled in his favor. Environmental groups and the Department of the interior attempted to delay the sale by filing an appeal, although environmentalists say the interior department ultimately did not defend the inclusion of these protective measures in the lease.
On november 14, the new orleans-based u.S. Court of appeals WhatsApp Number List dismissed this appeal and ordered that the federal auction of drilling rights, known as a lease sale ,261 continue within 37 days, with no protections in place for rice's whale. At the end of the auction held on december 20, bids were received for 311 tracts covering 688,000 hectares (1.7 million acres) of federal waters in the gulf of mexico, generating sales of $382 million. Twenty-six companies participated in the lease sale, including shell, chevron and bp. George torgun, lead attorney for the ocean program at earthjustice, a california-based ngo that legally represented the sierra club, friends of the earth, the center for biological diversity and the turtle island restoration network, said there may still be legal avenues to protect the rice whale, which the iucn classifies as critically endangered. But he added that “time is running out” to save the species and that the government must enact protections as soon as possible. Conservation experts have also raised concerns about the greenhouse gas emissions associated with this lease sale, as well as three upcoming lease sales in the gulf of mexico that will be part of biden's five-year plan for oil drilling. And gas. According to a 2021 analysis by the washington, d.C.-based ngo oceana, permanently protecting federal waters from offshore drilling could prevent the release of 19 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, which is equivalent to keeping all cars off the road in the united states for 15 years. 'they could have left' millions of years ago, layers of algae and plankton accumulated at the bottom of the gulf of mexico, eventually turning the basin into a modern hotspot for oil and gas resources.
Today the gulf is a primary source of offshore oil and gas for the united states, producing about 97% of the country's oil and gas produced along its outer continental shelf, according to the bureau of energy management. Ocean commission (boem) of the united states department of the interior. However, this same area is also the only habitat of the rice's whale. Scientists designated rice's whale as its own species only two years ago. Prior to this, the whale was considered a subpopulation of bryde's whale ( balaenoptera edeni ), a species with populations in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate areas around the world. This is understandable, given the close resemblance between the two species: both are small for baleen whales, with a maximum length of around 17 meters, both have three prominent crests in front of their blowholes, and both even display similar behaviors. Then, in 2014, a genetic analysis of the population then known as bryde's whales from the northern gulf of mexico suggested that these whales might actually be their own species. But it wasn't until scientists were able to collect and analyze a skeleton, after a carcass washed ashore in the florida everglades in 2019, that they officially described the species as rice's whale. They named it after dale rice, the first biologist to identify whales in the northern gulf of mexico. But this newly described species could disappear as quickly as it appeared. Scientists believe there are fewer than 50 rice's whales left , including about 25 mature individuals. John ososky, a scientist at the national museum of natural history in washington, d.C., who helped process the rice's whale carcass that became the species' holotype, said the current population of rice's whales "Is already below of the number that would be desired for it to be recovered effectively.” "Every time you lose an animal, you can lose what's left of genetic diversity," ososky said.
On november 14, the new orleans-based u.S. Court of appeals WhatsApp Number List dismissed this appeal and ordered that the federal auction of drilling rights, known as a lease sale ,261 continue within 37 days, with no protections in place for rice's whale. At the end of the auction held on december 20, bids were received for 311 tracts covering 688,000 hectares (1.7 million acres) of federal waters in the gulf of mexico, generating sales of $382 million. Twenty-six companies participated in the lease sale, including shell, chevron and bp. George torgun, lead attorney for the ocean program at earthjustice, a california-based ngo that legally represented the sierra club, friends of the earth, the center for biological diversity and the turtle island restoration network, said there may still be legal avenues to protect the rice whale, which the iucn classifies as critically endangered. But he added that “time is running out” to save the species and that the government must enact protections as soon as possible. Conservation experts have also raised concerns about the greenhouse gas emissions associated with this lease sale, as well as three upcoming lease sales in the gulf of mexico that will be part of biden's five-year plan for oil drilling. And gas. According to a 2021 analysis by the washington, d.C.-based ngo oceana, permanently protecting federal waters from offshore drilling could prevent the release of 19 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, which is equivalent to keeping all cars off the road in the united states for 15 years. 'they could have left' millions of years ago, layers of algae and plankton accumulated at the bottom of the gulf of mexico, eventually turning the basin into a modern hotspot for oil and gas resources.
Today the gulf is a primary source of offshore oil and gas for the united states, producing about 97% of the country's oil and gas produced along its outer continental shelf, according to the bureau of energy management. Ocean commission (boem) of the united states department of the interior. However, this same area is also the only habitat of the rice's whale. Scientists designated rice's whale as its own species only two years ago. Prior to this, the whale was considered a subpopulation of bryde's whale ( balaenoptera edeni ), a species with populations in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate areas around the world. This is understandable, given the close resemblance between the two species: both are small for baleen whales, with a maximum length of around 17 meters, both have three prominent crests in front of their blowholes, and both even display similar behaviors. Then, in 2014, a genetic analysis of the population then known as bryde's whales from the northern gulf of mexico suggested that these whales might actually be their own species. But it wasn't until scientists were able to collect and analyze a skeleton, after a carcass washed ashore in the florida everglades in 2019, that they officially described the species as rice's whale. They named it after dale rice, the first biologist to identify whales in the northern gulf of mexico. But this newly described species could disappear as quickly as it appeared. Scientists believe there are fewer than 50 rice's whales left , including about 25 mature individuals. John ososky, a scientist at the national museum of natural history in washington, d.C., who helped process the rice's whale carcass that became the species' holotype, said the current population of rice's whales "Is already below of the number that would be desired for it to be recovered effectively.” "Every time you lose an animal, you can lose what's left of genetic diversity," ososky said.