Stop the Lawsuits or We'll Sue

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would like to add several classifications of wildlife to the endangered species list, but it says it can't because of lawsuits by environmentalists. Various environmental groups have been suing the Service to demand special “critical habitat” designations to protect several species already listed as threatened or endangered. So many, in fact, that “we just don't have the staff or the funding necessary to do anything that isn't ordered by a court,” says spokesman Hugh Vickery. He adds that 25 species being considered for the endangered list will have to wait until the government's new fiscal year, when the agency will get an extra $200,000 in funding for such work over this year. (AP) ...Unfortunately, it's not likely regulatory lawyers will ever become extinct.