http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/p...05-12-2006.html

For Immediate Release: May 12, 2006
Contact: Noah Greenwald, Center for Biological Diversity, 503-484-7495

Case to Protect Hundreds of Wildlife Species Nationwide Moves Forward

Lawsuit Arguing Fish and Wildlife Service Unlawfully Delayed
Protection for 263 Species Under Endangered Species Act Will Proceed

Washington, DC – Judge Gladys Kessler ruled this week that the Center for Biological Diversity, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance and Forest Guardians can proceed in a federal lawsuit that charges the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) with unlawfully delaying protection for 263 wildlife species.

All 263 species are currently listed as candidates for protection as threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act, meaning FWS concedes they are sufficiently endangered to warrant protection, but such protection is precluded by work to protect other species. To date, at least 24 candidate species have gone extinct while waiting for protection.

“The court’s ruling is a victory for the nation’s wildlife, bringing literally hundreds of plants and animals one step closer to the protection they need to avoid extinction,” stated Noah Greenwald, Conservation Biologist for the Center for Biological Diversity.

The Endangered Species Act allows FWS to declare species’ protection “warranted but precluded” as it did in the case of these candidate species, but it must demonstrate that it is making “expeditious progress” in protecting other species that are of a higher priority. However, despite an increasing budget for listing, the Bush administration has protected the fewest number of species of any administration since the Act was passed. To date, it has protected 56 species compared to 512 under the Clinton administration and 234 under Bush senior’s administration.

“The Bush administration has the worst record of protecting the nation’s wildlife of any modern presidency and will go to any length to avoid protecting the nation’s wildlife,” said Greenwald. “The Endangered Species Act works, but for these 263 species to benefit from the Act, they must first be protected as threatened or endangered.”

The government tried to argue that because the case originally applied to two of the candidate species, any mention of other candidate species should be struck from the case. However, the court concluded that the “motion has no merit” and that:

“That precise ‘issue at hand’ is the legality of the ‘expedited progress’ finding embodied in the candidate notice of review issued by Defendants on May 11, 2005. In short, in the third amended complaint, Plaintiffs challenge the Defendants’ on the finding that ‘expedited progress’ has been made in order to invoke the ‘warranted but precluded’ rationale and avoid the listing of candidate species.”

In making this determination, Judge Kessler admonished the government for needlessly delaying the case, calling its delay “distressing.” The court’s decision clears the path for the case to move forward and puts the 263 species one step closer to the protection they deserve. The groups are represented by Meyer, Glitzenstein and Crystal. The court’s decision is available on request.

Here we go again. Another blind judge ruling on BS with few facts.