For Immediate Release, August 28, 2007
Contact: Kieran Suckling, (520) 275-5960
Environmentalists Challenge Political Interference
With 55 Endangered Species in 28 States, Seek to Restore
8.7 Million Acres of Protected Habitat Across the Country
TUCSON, Ariz.— The Center for Biological Diversity today filed a formal notice of intent to sue the Department of the Interior for political interference with 55 endangered species in 28 states. The notice initiates the largest substantive legal action in the 34-year history of the Endangered Species Act.
At stake in the suit is the illegal removal of one animal from the endangered species list, the refusal to place three animals on the list, proposals to remove or downgrade protection for seven animals, and the stripping of protection from 8.7 million acres of critical habitat for a long list of species from Washington State to Minnesota and Texas (see below for species and states affected).
“This is the biggest legal challenge against political interference in the history of the Endangered Species Act,” said Kieran Suckling, policy director of the Center for Biological Diversity. “It puts the Bush administration on trial at every level for systematically squelching government scientists and installing a cadre of political hatchet men in positions of power.”
Many of the illegal decisions were engineered by former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior Julie MacDonald, who resigned in disgrace following a scathing investigation by the inspector general of misconduct at the Department of the Interior. Other decisions were ordered by her boss, Assistant Secretary of the Interior Craig Manson, his special assistant Randal Bowman, and Ruth Solomon in the White House Office of Management and Budget. Some decisions were ordered by lower-level bureaucrats.
“The Bush administration has tried to keep a lid on its growing endangered species scandal by scapegoating Julie MacDonald,” said Suckling, “but the corruption goes much deeper than one disgraced bureaucrat. It reaches into the White House itself through the Office of Management and Budget. By attacking the problem systematically through this national lawsuit, we will expose just how thoroughly the distain for science and for wildlife pervades the Bush administration’s endangered species program.”
In many of the cases, government and university scientists carefully documented the editing of scientific documents, overruling of scientific experts, and falsification of economic analyses.
Among the 55 species in the legal filing are the marbled murrelet (CA, OR, WA), Florida manatee (SC to TX), Arctic grayling (MT), West Virginia northern flying squirrel (WV), California least tern (CA), brown pelican (LA, TX, PR, VI), California red-legged frog (CA), arroyo toad (CA), Mexican garter snake (AZ), piping plover (NC to TX), snowy plover (CA, OR, WA) and Preble's jumping meadow mouse (CO, WY).
Number of species per state: California (24), Texas (16), New Mexico (9), Arizona (5), Louisiana (3), Colorado (2), Oregon (2), Washington (2), Kansas (2), Georgia (2), Florida (2), Alabama (2), Mississippi (2), Puerto Rico (2), American Virgin Islands (2), Montana (1), Iowa (1), Minnesota (1), Nebraska (1), South Dakota (1), Missouri (1), South Carolina (1), Nevada (1), Utah (1), Wyoming (1), West Virginia (1), Guam (1), Rota (1).
Species per state and issue:
Species |
Range |
Issue |
Braken Bat Cave meshweaver |
TX |
critical habitat |
Cokendolpher cave harvestman |
TX |
critical habitat |
Comal Springs dryopid beetle |
TX |
critical habitat |
Comal Springs riffle beetle |
TX |
critical habitat |
Peck's Cave amphipod |
TX |
critical habitat |
Government Canyon Bat Cave meshweaver |
TX |
critical habitat |
Government Canyon Bat Cave spider |
TX |
critical habitat |
Helotes mold beetle |
TX |
critical habitat |
Madla Cave meshweaver |
TX |
critical habitat |
Rhadine exilis ground beetle |
TX |
critical habitat |
Rhadine infernalis ground beetle |
TX |
critical habitat |
Robber Baron Cave meshweaver |
TX |
critical habitat |
San Jacinto crownscale |
CA |
critical habitat |
Lane Mountain milk-vetch |
CA |
critical habitat |
Coachella Valley milk-vetch |
CA |
critical habitat |
Spreading navarretia |
CA |
critical habitat |
Willowy monardella |
CA |
critical habitat |
Thread-leaved brodiaea |
CA |
critical habitat |
Munz's onion |
CA |
critical habitat |
Robust spineflower (two varieties) |
CA |
critical habitat |
Monterey spineflower |
CA |
critical habitat |
Santa Cruz tarplant |
CA |
critical habitat |
Alameda whipsnake |
CA |
critical habitat |
Arroyo southwestern toad |
CA |
critical habitat |
Buena Vista Lake shrew |
CA |
critical habitat |
California red-legged frog |
CA |
critical habitat |
California tiger salamander (Central) |
CA |
critical habitat |
California tiger salamander ( Sonoma) |
CA |
critical habitat |
Riverside fairy shrimp |
CA |
critical habitat |
Santa Ana sucker (re-designation) |
CA |
critical habitat |
Quino checkerspot butterfly |
CA |
critical habitat |
Pecos assiminea snail |
NM |
critical habitat |
Koster's tryonia snail |
NM |
critical habitat |
Noel's amphipod |
NM |
critical habitat |
Roswell springsnail |
NM |
critical habitat |
Gila chub |
AZ, NM |
critical habitat |
Loach minnow |
AZ, NM |
critical habitat |
Spikedace |
AZ, NM |
critical habitat |
Arkansas River shiner |
NM, TX, OK, KS |
critical habitat |
Southwestern willow flycatcher (redesignation) |
CA, NV, UT, CO, AZ, NM |
critical habitat |
Western snowy plover (re-designation) |
CA, OR, WA |
critical habitat |
Preble's meadow jumping mouse |
CO, WY |
critical habitat |
Piping plover (winter range) |
NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, LA, TX |
critical habitat |
Topeka shiner |
IA, KS, MN, NE, SD, MO |
critical habitat |
Sacramento splittail |
CA |
Delisting |
Mexican garter snake |
AZ |
Refusal to list |
Tabernaemontana Rotensis |
GU, RO |
Refusal to list |
Arctic fluvial grayling |
MT |
Refusal to list |
West Virginia northern flying squirrel |
WV |
Delisting proposal |
California least tern |
CA |
Downlisting proposal |
Eastern pelican |
LA, TX |
Delisting proposal |
Caribbean brown pelican |
PR, AVI |
Delisting proposal |
Florida manatee |
NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, LA, TX |
Downlisting proposal |
Antillean manatee |
PR, AVI |
Downlisting proposal |
Marbled murrelet |
CA, OR, WA |
Delisting proposal |
|