Wednesday, July 08, 2009Last Update: 11:48 PM PT

     WASHINGTON (CN) - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration plans to allow the Navy to add acreage to its sonar research and testing area within its Naval Undersea Warfare Center Keyport Range Complex, in Washington State, which could harass sea mammals.
     The agency states that due to its planned mitigation and monitoring regulations, the number of mammals affected is likely to be lower than the Navy's estimate, and that it expects none of the animals to be killed or injured.
     The level of harassment envisioned would include: "disruption of natural behavioral patterns, including, but not limited to, migration, surfacing, nursing, breeding, feeding, or sheltering, to a point where such behavioral patterns are abandoned or significantly altered."
     NOAA has proposed to allow sea mammals to be harassed the indicated number of times in the next five years: Harbor porpoise 56,415; Northern fur seal 220; California sea lion 570; Northern elephant seal 70; Harbor seal (from inland Washington waters) 27,340; and Harbor seal (from Oregon and Washington Coast) 505. NOAA assumes that all Harbor porpoises exposed to 120 decibels of sound change behavior patterns, whereas a scale can be used to measure the likely harassment to the other marine mammals.

     WASHINGTON (CN) - Federally insured banks holding more than $1 billion in assets will be held to the standards of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, according to a new Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation regulation. Sarbanes-Oxley requires an independent audit committee and the appointment of an independent accountant to monitor and verify the bank's accounting structures.

     WASHINGTON (CN) - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announces that the listing of Colorado River basin roundtail chub as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act is warranted, but precluded by higher priority actions to amend the Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants. This determination was made after 12 months of review of a petition to designate a critical habitat for the fish.
     As a result of the finding, the USFWS will develop a proposed rule to list this population segment of the roundtail chub under its Listing Priority System. Any designation of critical habitat will be made at that time.

     WASHINGTON (CN) - The Department of Agriculture has implemented provisions of the Child Nutrition and Women, Infants and Children Reauthorization Act that address participant certification and general program administration in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children. The rule implements exclusions from income eligibility determinations, and clarifies an inconsistency related to fair hearings and notices of adverse actions inadvertently omitted in the publication of the Final WIC Miscellaneous Rule.
     The Environmental Protection Agency has removed the Wilson Farm Superfund Site in Plumsted Township, Ocean County, New Jersey, from the National Priorities List, which indicates the hazardous sites that need to be cleaned up before others. The EPA and the Department of Environmental Protection have determined that all appropriate remedial actions under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, including operation and maintenance, have been implemented.

     WASHINGTON (CN) - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposes to list as endangered four species of birds from Colombia, and one from Ecuador, under the Endangered Species Act. The South American birds are the blue-billed curassow, the brown-banded antpitta, the Cauca guan, the gorgeted wood-quail and the Esmeraldas woodstar. The agency will accept comments until Sept. 8.
     Although these birds have faced habitat destruction and loss, forest fragmentation, livestock grazing, fire, hunting, and encroachment from other human activities, and requests were made to list them in the 1980s and 1990s, they have remained off the list. At the time, the USFWS determined that listing the birds as endangered was warranted but precluded by higher-priority listing actions. In 2007 the five species were designated with listing priority number 2, which means that the subject species face imminent threats of high magnitude. This action followed, two years later.
     Protecting foreign species under the Endangered Species Act regulates the importation of the animal or its parts, and is meant to help heighten awareness of the need for conserving these species among foreign governments, conservation organizations, and members of the public.