US eyes change in endangered species act
Date: 30-May-03
Country: USA
Author: Christopher Doering
Environmental groups said the proposal amounted to an attack on the habitats that protect animals and plants in jeopardy of extinction.
Craig Mason, assistant secretary for the Fish and Wildlife Service, said the agency needed to have the ability to determine which species required immediate attention, rather than having the courts decide.
The agency has asked Congress to allow it to shift money from other endangered species programs to meet the habitat designation deadlines. It also will ask plaintiffs and the court to extend deadlines for 32 species.
In an Interior Department document obtained by Reuters, the service said it wants to change the current system for designating "critical habitat" - land that is determined to be essential to the survival of a species.
The Endangered Species Act requires that critical habitat land be designated when a species is determined to be at risk. However, lack of information and resources often delay the process, according to the service, a part of the Department of the Interior.
The agency said court orders scolding it for failing to designate critical habitat undermined conservation efforts.
Nearly two-thirds of the $9 million budgeted in 2003 for species protection was earmarked to comply with court orders and settlements, according to the agency. Faced with growing litigation costs, the service will run out of funds by July to meet the court mandated orders, the agency said.
In 2001, more than 1,250 animals and plants were on the U.S. endangered or threatened species list.
In a statement, a number of environmental groups said the Fish and Wildlife Service's belief that critical habitat protection has no benefit to the species will make it less likely the Bush administration will support the rule.
"They are not going to defend this and are unlikely to defend it in court," said Susan Holmes, a spokesman for Earthjustice. "It seems like a veiled attempt to get Congress to change the law."
