The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service finalized new rules today that restrict the ability of ordinary citizens, scientists and public-interest organizations to obtain Endangered Species Act protections for species on the brink of extinction. The new rules eliminate the ability of the public to submit multispecies petitions and require that 30 days prior to submitting a petition, the petitioner must notify every state where an imperiled species may live.
Scientific research confirms that citizen petitions routinely identify species at the highest risk of extinction, and the majority of the protections given to 1,600 species to date have been in response to citizen petitions. The filing of a petition triggers what is supposed to be a two-year process that includes three public-comment periods. Unfortunately the Fish and Wildlife Service routinely violates this legal requirement, often taking more than a decade to complete the process. Delays in protection of species have had significant consequences, with more than 40 species having gone extinct while waiting for protection.
Today’s rule is one of the last in a series of new regulations that have limited the scope of the Endangered Species Act, solidifying the Obama administration’s record as no friend of endangered species.
— source biologicaldiversity.org