美国国家公共电台 NPR Trump Administration Revises Conservation Plan For Western Sage Grouse

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

The Trump¹ administration announced yesterday it is reworking an Obama-era plan to protect the sage² grouse³. Environmental groups immediately condemned⁴ this move, saying it could endanger this chicken-sized bird that's found in 11 western states. This is about more than a bird, though. The decision appears to be a victory for industry. It will give states more flexibility⁵ to allow mining, logging and drilling where it is now restricted. To explain all this, NPR's Nathan Rott, who covers the environment, is here at NPR West with me. Hey, Nate.

NATHAN ROTT, BYLINE⁶: Good morning, David.

GREENE: So is this a big, significant decision?

ROTT: Yes and no. I mean - so the sage grouse happens to share a home with billions of dollars in natural resources - oil, gas, coal, other minerals. And you might remember that President Trump's executive order promoting energy independence, economic growth - well, oil and gas industry, some western states have argued that current efforts to conserve⁷ sage grouse, to protect its habitat, are impeding⁸ economic growth.

GREENE: They're arguing that the American economy is being held back by these birds and where they reside?

ROTT: Exactly. And you know, in some cases, the sage grouse - if there is a sage grouse that's living - if there's habitat there, some sort of development might actually be impeded⁹, or they might have to go through a process to make sure that they're not really impacting the bird.

So this conservation plan that we're talking about - let's bear in mind that it's an Obama-era plan, so it's not terribly surprising that the Trump administration would want to review it. Yesterday we saw the results of that review and heard that the Interior Department was going to implement¹⁰ many recommendations.

GREENE: Many people who live in western states know this bird well. Some people in different parts the United States do not know this bird well. Can you bring people in a little bit for people who don't know the sage grouse? What is a sage grouse?

ROTT: OK, let's cue the sound.

GREENE: (Laughter) OK.

(SOUNDBITE OF SAGE GROUSE CHIRPING)

ROTT: You here that? I should channel my inner David Attenborough.

GREENE: It's almost like a video game in a way. But that's what they sound like.

ROTT: This is what they sound like. This is males trying to attract females. And I know you can only hear this, but I beseech¹¹ you and anyone listening to this, please, when you have a second later today on your phone, computer, Google sage grouse dancing. You will not regret it. You are welcome. But in all seriousness...

GREENE: (Laughter) As soon as we're done here.

ROTT: (Laughter) Yeah. The greater sage grouse is a chicken-sized bird that lives in these big, empty-looking landscapes that you'd see in a Western. And it is imperiled. There used to be millions of them on the landscape. Now there's fewer than 500,000. And those landscapes that we're talking about - they're really not that empty. Sage grouse don't like humans or development, and there's an increasing amount of development on those lands.

GREENE: OK, explain these recommendations then. What is happening, and why are environmental groups so angry right now?

ROTT: Well, so environmental groups - I even saw one say that this could spell the doom¹² for the bird, which I think is a bit overstating it. The Interior Department has made it very clear that they are committed to conserving¹³ the bird. They want to find the appropriate balance between conservation and economic development. They painted this as an effort to give states more flexibility in managing it. But flexibility can mean a lot of things. This is an administration that is definitely pro-energy production. And so you can understand why a conservation group might be concerned.

GREENE: I want to ask you, if I can, about another issue that you cover very closely, and that's climate change. There's this report from The New York Times. They seemed to get a hold of a draft report from scientists from 13 federal agencies saying that there is a ton of evidence of climate change. What exactly is this report?

ROTT: Yeah, so I just saw a copy of the climate change report last night, too. It's a draft, which I think is important to note for those in the scientific community. And from my understanding, there's really not any new science in it. It's more an aggregation¹⁴ of existing science that does lay out a pretty dire¹⁵ case of what the impacts of climate change will be and how much of an impact humans have had on that.

GREENE: Well, the one interesting thing was there was a government scientist speaking to The Times who was worried that the report might be suppressed - any evidence that's happening?

ROTT: You know, I cannot speak to whether or not the Trump administration would have actually suppressed this. If so, that's a really big deal. But that's a really big if. It's unclear when this was supposed to be published. We don't know that. We haven't heard from the administration, if they were going to go one way or another.

But I do think it's fair to assume that the concern that the scientist - the concern that we heard from the scientist has - came from other efforts the administration has taken toward scrubbing climate change references off of government websites and administration officials questioning the very science behind climate change time and again.

GREENE: All right, speaking to NPR's Nathan Rott, who covers the environment. He is sitting across from me right here in our studios here at NPR West. Thanks, Nate.

ROTT: Thank you.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 sage   

n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的

参考例句：

• I was grateful for the old man's sage advice.我很感激那位老人贤明的忠告。
• The sage is the instructor of a hundred ages.这位哲人是百代之师。

3 grouse   

n.松鸡；v.牢骚，诉苦

参考例句：

• They're shooting grouse up on the moors.他们在荒野射猎松鸡。
• If you don't agree with me,please forget my grouse.如果你的看法不同，请不必介意我的牢骚之言。

4 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

5 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 conserve   

vt.保存，保护，节约，节省，守恒，不灭

参考例句：

• He writes on both sides of the sheet to conserve paper.他在纸张的两面都写字以节省用纸。
• Conserve your energy,you'll need it!保存你的精力，你会用得着的！

8 impeding   

a.(尤指坏事)即将发生的，临近的

参考例句：

• Fallen rock is impeding the progress of rescue workers. 坠落的石头阻滞了救援人员的救援进程。
• Is there sufficient room for the kiosk and kiosk traffic without impeding other user traffic? 该环境下是否有足够的空间来摆放信息亭？信息亭是否会妨碍交通或者行走？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

9 impeded   

阻碍，妨碍，阻止( impede的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Work on the building was impeded by severe weather. 楼房的施工因天气恶劣而停了下来。
• He was impeded in his work. 他的工作受阻。

10 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

11 beseech   

v.祈求，恳求

参考例句：

• I beseech you to do this before it is too late.我恳求你做做这件事吧，趁现在还来得及。
• I beseech your favor.我恳求您帮忙。

12 doom   

n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定

参考例句：

• The report on our economic situation is full of doom and gloom.这份关于我们经济状况的报告充满了令人绝望和沮丧的调子。
• The dictator met his doom after ten years of rule.独裁者统治了十年终于完蛋了。

13 conserving   

v.保护，保藏，保存( conserve的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Contour planning with or without terracing is effective in conserving both soil and moisture. 顺等高线栽植，无论做或不做梯田对于保持水土都能有效。 来自辞典例句
• Economic savings, consistent with a conserving society and the public philosophy. 经济节约，符合创建节约型社会的公共理念。 来自互联网

14 aggregation   

n.聚合，组合；凝聚

参考例句：

• A high polymer is a very large aggregation of units.一个高聚物是许多单元的非常大的组合。
• Moreover,aggregation influences the outcome of chemical disinfection of viruses.此外，聚集作用还会影响化学消毒的效果。

15 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。