Audubon tells US about the victories the organization achieved during the year on behalf of birds and the environment. Some holiday cheer to go along with impeachment drama:
- Several significant clean energy advances were made at the state level thanks in part to the involvement of Audubon activists. Arkansas and South Carolina passed legislation increases that access to solar energy in the south and creates more green jobs. New York and Washington passed some of the strongest climate legislation in the country. These new laws require the states to create 100% clean energy economy by 2050 and 2045 respectively;
- Two federal laws protecting birds and habitat were reauthorized: the Land & Water Conservation Fund and the Neotropical Bird Conservation Act. The permanent reauthorization of the LWCF funds conservation projects in all 50 states, from bald eagles in Washington to cerulean warblers in Arkansas;
- Audubon helped defend the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in court after the regime attacked the landmark legislation that protects migrating birds. A federal court ruled that conservation lawsuits to overturn the regulatory rollback may proceed;
- In October, the EPA released is Great Lakes Action Plan that outlines a five year strategy to guide federal investment of to protect and restore the Great Lakes. For the first time marsh birds such as rails, grebes, bitterns, black and common terns that rely on high-quality wetlands will be the focus of attention under the plan.
- Conservation organizations including Audubon have persistently resisted the regime's plans to drill the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. The organization's members submitted 41,000 comments opposing drilling, and submitted a joint critique of the Bureau of Land Management's environmental impact statement. In the Senate, a bill to declare the refuge protected wilderness was introduced one day before the House voted to pass legislation that would repeal the leasing program on the Alaskan coast plain. Both laws are important steps to protecting the refuge from oil exploitation;
- Under the extreme pro-exploitation regime now in power, regulatory roll- backs intended to gut the nation's environmental protection efforts have been alarming in extent. One of these retreats weakens the 2015 sagebrush management plans agreed to by ten states in the interior west, making easier for oil and gas companies to drill in disappearing sage grouse habitat. With help from Audubon, Wyoming took the lead in sage-grouse conservation by issuing an executive order with a mandate to maintain the agreed upon protections in the 2015 management plan. The improvement in habitat will benefit more than 350 species of wildlife.
- For the first time ever, Congress has legislation before it to protect forage fish such as shad and anchovies that feed seabirds. Audubon members traveled to the capitol to educate lawmakers about the 70% decline in seabirds since 1970. In June the House Natural Resources Committee passed a bill to protect Albatross whose numbers are rapidly declining. The bill to protect the legendary flyers now goes to the full House for consideration.