The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it has run out of money foradding any new species to its endangered list because of a flood oflawsuits against the agency. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s LesterGraham reports:
Transcript
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it has run out of money for adding any new species to its endangered list because of a flood of lawsuits against the agency. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
The Fish and Wildlife Service says except in cases where a species is in imminent danger of extinction… it will not add to its threatened or endangered lists until the end of the federal government’s fiscal year. That’s October 2001. Chris Tollefson is a spokesperson for the Fish and Wildlife Service. He says lawsuits filed by environmental groups have forced the agency’s hand.
Tollefson “we’re under a series of court-ordered deadlines to list critical habitat or settlement agreements arising out of litigation. And basically we have exhausted virtually all the current year’s budget in commitments meeting these court-ordered deadlines.”
The Fish and Wildlife Service has always considered protecting and re-establishing endangered species the top priority… and determining critical habitat a secondary priority. The agency says lawsuits have forced it to change and that might hurt some species in the short-term.
For the GLRC, this is Lester Graham.