Feds could face coral lawsuit
KAILUA-KONA — The Center for Biological Diversity on Wednesday announced plans to file suit after a federal agency missed a deadline to rule on whether to list cauliflower coral as a threatened or endangered species under federal law.
That’s unless the agency publishes its determination within 60 days, according to a letter from the conservation group’s attorneys and addressed to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and an official for the National Marine Fisheries Service.
The lawsuit would accuse Ross and the National Marine Fisheries Service, an agency under the U.S. Department of Commerce, of violating the federal Endangered Species Act, which requires the Fisheries Service to act on petitions to list species as threatened or endangered within 12 months of their filing when it has determined protection might be warranted.
“The law is pretty clear within the statute that they have to make a decision within that 12-month period,” said Maxx Phillips, the Center for Biological Diversity’s regional director for Hawaii and staff attorney.
Read more: https://www.westhawaiitoday.com/2019/05/30/hawaii-news/feds-could-face-coral-lawsuit/?WHT=ce082a9abcac236eb9f2eafe8df536f8c11a40a4