AWI Quarterly Articles | Government/Legal

In June, AWI staff members attended Capitol Hill Ocean Week (CHOW), hosted by the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation in Washington, DC. CHOW—which brings together scientists, policymakers, scholars, businesses, and conservation leaders—is the nation’s premier ocean...

The Biden administration released its final phase II rule updating regulations that implement the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), our country’s basic charter for the protection of the environment. This completes a multi-phased process to...

The House of Representatives continues to churn out anti-wildlife measures, passing bills at the end of April to increase wolf slaughter and to prevent efforts to remove toxic lead from public lands. One of these...

The Captive Primate Safety Act (HR 8164/S 4206) was reintroduced in May by Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), with AWI’s strong endorsement. This bill would ban the...

A historic win for equine welfare was achieved in May when the US Department of Agriculture finalized long-awaited Horse Protection Act (HPA) regulations to protect Tennessee walking horses from the brutal practice of horse soring—whereby...

For the upcoming fiscal year, beginning October 1, AWI provided members of Congress with a list of priorities covering the welfare of companion animals, farmed animals, marine mammals, and other wildlife. We also submitted testimony...

Narrowly averting a government shutdown, Congress adopted a $460 billion spending package in March that included multiple wins for animals. Among them: prohibiting the US Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services program from using chemical poison...

AWI led efforts to get a bill introduced in the Illinois Senate to ban mink farming in the state. Sponsored by Assistant Majority Leader Linda Holmes, the Mink Facility Disease Prevention Act (SB 3262) recognizes...

Science increasingly supports the conclusion that, due to their size and their physiological and social needs, certain cetaceans cannot cope in captivity, where they are kept in small, impoverished environments and often die prematurely. AWI...

North Atlantic right whales face grave danger in both the choppy waters off the coast and within the storm-tossed chambers of Congress. As vessel strikes and entanglements continue to take a heavy toll on this...