Environmentalists fearing plans for a potentially huge data center in Alabama filed a petition Thursday with the Fish and Wildlife Service to secure federal Endangered Species Act protections for the tiny Birmingham darter.
Citing what they termed an “imminent threat” to the fish, the Center for Biological Diversity joined with three allied organizations in urging federal officials to list the species as threatened or endangered.
“These phenomenal fish will slide further toward extinction if this data center is built, so we have to act fast,” Will Harlan, Southeast director at the CBD, said in a statement. “They’ve been swimming in these creeks for millions of years, but without immediate protections they’ll disappear forever.”
According to the petition, only six populations of the recently discovered species remain in a single creek system. The 2-inch-long fish relies on Valley Creek and its tributaries, which the petition contends could be sucked dry if the proposed data center is built in the area about 15 miles southwest of the city of Birmingham.
