• On Friday, March 18, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) toured Channel Islands National Park to highlight the conservation work underway to recover four subspecies of island foxes from the endangered species list. While there, Jewell and Capps also distributed Every Kid in a Park passes to more than 90 fourth graders for free access to national public lands and waters.
In February, the Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service announced a proposal to delist three of the four subspecies of island fox native to California’s Channel Islands, representing the fastest successful recovery for any Endangered Species Act (ESA)-listed mammal in the United States.
The ESA is a tool for conserving the nation’s most at-risk wildlife, as well as the land and water on which they depend for habitat. The ESA has saved more than 99 percent of the species listed from the brink of extinction and has served as the critical safety net for wildlife that Congress intended when it passed the law more than 40 years ago.
The Every Kid in a Park initiative is part of an overall strategy to connect young people to the outdoors. The program allows fourth graders to go to www.everykidinapark.gov to obtain a pass for free entry for them and their families to more than 2,000 federally managed lands and waters nationwide for an entire year.
• On March 16, the Energy and Power Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a markup on legislation to reauthorize federal pipeline safety standards. The markup was held on draft bill language, similar to a version that was the subject of an earlier hearing with Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administrator Marie Therese Dominguez.
Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) offered three amendments to the proposed legislation that would improve safety standards including a strengthened definition of High Consequence Areas; a requirement for the use of automatic shutoff valves in federally designated High Consequence Areas such as the Gaviota Coast; and an increase in frequency of in-line inspections in these sensitive areas. All amendments were later withdrawn after receiving assurances from Republican Chairman Fred Upton and Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield that they would work closely with Democrats in the following weeks to draft a bipartisan bill that improves standards for pipeline safety throughout the country.
Capps’ remarks included the following:
“I urge the committee to continue to work together, we have on previous pipeline safety bills, to fulfill our obligation to apply these lessons to minimize the occurrence of these disasters and limit the extent of the damage that occurs when they do.”
• On March 21, Gov. Jerry Brown issued a proclamation declaring March 20 through 26, 2016, as Tsunami Preparedness Week in the State of California.
In his proclamation he said that previous earthquake and tsunami events should serve as reminders to always be prepared for such a disaster.
“As part of the effort to prepare for tsunamis, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, California Geological Survey, state and federal agencies, local agencies, businesses, educational institutions, and community organizations have contributed to emergency preparedness efforts. These entities will commemorate National Tsunami Preparedness Week from March 20 through March 26, 2016, by conducting exercises, and testing warning systems and response plans,” Gov. Brown stated.
“Today, I urge all Californians to continue their vigilance and increase their efforts to make our families, communities, state, and nation better prepared for disasters including tsunamis.”
This article appears in Mar 24-31, 2016.
