Environmentalists on Tuesday sued the Fish and Wildlife Service in an effort to secure overdue designation of critical habitat for endangered black-capped petrels.
Warning of potential threats to the birds that range from oil spills to deforestation, the Center for Biological Diversity asserted the federal agency had missed an inflexible deadline imposed by the Endangered Species Act.
“These intrepid sea birds cross oceans to feed, and they’ll only survive if they arrive to a healthy marine environment,” Mark Patronella, a staff attorney at the center, said in a statement.
Patronella added that federal officials “recognize that petrels need and deserve protection” under the ESA but keep “dragging their heels on protecting the places the birds need to survive.”
