NOAA-Fisheries announced a 12-month finding on a petition to list the ringed seal as a threatened or endangered species under the ESA; the agency found that listing of the Arctic, Okhotsk, Baltic, and Ladoga subspecies as threatened is warranted.
United States v. Orval Kent Food Co., Inc., No. 2:11-cv-02057-JAR-JPO (D. Kan. Jan. 31, 2011). A settling CWA defendant responsible for discharges into a POTW in Baxter Springs, Kansas, must pay a $390,000 civil penalty, must increase monitoring of its discharges and install additional treatment, if necessary, and must undertake a fish restocking project at a cost of $32,500.
NOAA-Fisheries announced a 90-day finding on a petition to list Alabama shad as threatened or endangered and to designate critical habitat under the ESA; the agency found that listing is not warranted.
NOAA-Fisheries announced a 90-day finding on a petition to list the Texas pipefish as threatened or endangered under the ESA; the agency found that listing is not warranted.
EPA announced the release of the draft report titled, Aquatic Ecosystems, Water Quality, and Global Change: Challenges of Conducting Multi-Stressor Vulnerability Assessments, for public comment.
FWS announced the availability of draft guidelines on wind energy that would supersede the 2003 voluntary, interim guidelines.
The Forest Service proposed to establish a state-specific rule to provide management direction for conserving and managing inventoried roadless areas on National Forest System lands in Colorado.
NOAA-Fisheries established regulations under the ESA and the Marine Mammal Protection Act to prohibit vessels from approaching or parking in the path of killer whales, except for a specific no-go zone.
FWS amended the list of endangered and threatened wildlife under the ESA by adding 10 marine taxa, delisting 1 marine taxon, reclassifying 1 marine taxon, and revising 32 marine taxa.
NOAA-Fisheries designated 3,013 square miles in Alaska as critical habitat for the Cook Inlet beluga whale distinct population segment, excluding the Port of Anchorage and portions of military lands.