Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#57
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SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#57
3/19/97
SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
silver city, tucson, phoenix, san
diego
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1.
CRIMINAL COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR &
ARMY
CORPS OF ENGINEERS
- POLITICS
THREATENED CA SPECIES AND TOWNS WITH FLOODING
- CEQ HEAD
AND CA CONGRESSMAN MAY ALSO BE IMPLICATED
2. SETTLEMENT REACHED IN
"NO SURPRISES" SUIT-
PUBLIC WILL BE GIVEN CHANCE TO
PARTICIPATE
3. SUPREME COURT GIVES ANTI-ENVIROS RIGHT TO USE E.S.A.
AGAINST SPECIES-
LITTLE IMPACT
EXPECTED
*** *** ***
***
CRIMINAL COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR & ARMY
CORPS
OF ENGINEERS
- POLITICS THREATENED CA SPECIES AND TOWNS WITH
FLOODING
- CEQ HEAD AND CA CONGRESSMAN MAY ALSO BE
IMPLICATED
On March 19, 1997, the Southwest Center for Biological
Diversity
filed a criminal complaint with the U.S. Attorney General
against
Undersecretary of Interior Jon Garamandi, the Kern
River
Watermaster, and two Colonels at the Army Corps of Engineers
in
Sacramento, CA. Numerous documents were presented
demonstrating
that they defrauded the American government and violated
the
Endangered Species Act in 1995 and again in 1996 by drowning
the
habitat of the endangered Southwestern willow flycatcher and
the
Valley longhorn elderberry beetle at Lake Isabella in Kern
County,
CA.
CA Congressman Calvin Dooley and Katie McGinty, head of
the
Council on Environmental Quality may also be implicated.
Lake
Isabella is supposed to be kept at moderate levels in order to
provide flood
control protection from downstream Bakersfield.
Agribusiness interests and
the Army Corps of Engineers, however,
regularly fill the dam to illegal
levels to provide cheap, federally
subsidized irrigation water. This
threatens Bakersfield with flooding.
In 1995, the Army Corps illegally killed
at least ten flycatchers at
seven nest sites. In 1996, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service attempted
to make Army Corps lower the lake to legal levels.
Congressman
Calvin Dooley, Undersecretary Garamandi, the Kern River
Water
Master, and Colonels at the Army Corps of Engineers
illegally
intervened in the process, forcing Fish and Wildlife Service
biologists
to fill the dam, inundating the endangered species
habitat.
Congressmen Pombo and Herger (R, CA) meanwhile, have
introduced
a bill to exempt dam construction and flood control maintenance
from
the Endangered Species Act, claiming that the Elderberry Beetle is
the
cause of recent California flooding. The exact opposite is
true:
protecting the beetle and flycatcher will protect towns such
as
Bakersfield from being flooded out.
SETTLEMENT REACHED IN "NO
SURPRISES" SUIT-
PUBLIC WILL BE GIVEN CHANCE TO
PARTICIPATE
Though there has been much debate about Republican efforts
to
weaken the ESA and implement "No Surprises" and "Safe
Harbors"
policies, many do not known that the Clinton Administration
officially
adopted the No Surprises policy several years ago. The Spirit of
the
Sage Council, the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity,
the
Biodiversity Legal Foundation, and Forest Guardians sued the
Clinton
Administration for implementing the program without public
notice,
comment, or involvement- a violation of the
Administrative
Procedures Act.
Following court ordered settlement
negotiations, the USFWS agreed to
solicit public comments via the Federal
Register within 60 days,
establishing a 120 comment period. HCPs already
issued under the No
Surprises policy may be challenged on substantive
grounds. If the
FWS authorizes additional No Surprises based HCPs
during the
public comment period, it may be subject to further litigation. If
the
FWS decides to reissue the policy again, it may be sued on
substantive
grounds.
SUPREME COURT GIVES ANTI-ENVIROS RIGHT TO USE
E.S.A. AGAINST SPECIES-
LITTLE IMPACT EXPECTED
The Supreme Court has
ruled that anti-environmentalists may sue
under the Endangered Species Act
with the intent of depriving species
and habitats of protection. The court
rejected Fish and Wildlife Service
arguments that the Act could only be used
for the benefit of
endangered species.
The Southwest Center believes
all Americans should have equal access
to justice, regardless of intent.
Judging by the wise-use movement's
recent loss in its attempt to delist the
Mexican spotted owl and
prove it had been economically harmed by the listing
of the owl under
the ESA, we do not expect the decision to have far
reaching
conservation
effects.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Kieran
Suckling
ksuckling@sw-center.org
Executive
Director
phone: 520-733-1391
Southwest Center for Biological
Diversity fax:
520-733-1404
POB 17839, Tucson, AZ
85731
www.envirolink.org/orgs/sw-center