Posted on 01/15/2009 2:34:52 AM PST by SolidWood
Anchorage, Alaska - Governor Sarah Palin announced today that the State of Alaska filed a notice of intent to file a lawsuit challenging the federal government’s decision to list beluga whales in Cook Inlet as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
“The State of Alaska has worked cooperatively with the federal government to protect and conserve beluga whales in Cook Inlet,” said Governor Palin. “This listing decision didn’t take those efforts into account as required by law.”
The notice of the state’s intent to sue was sent to the Secretary of Commerce and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). It asserts that the listing decision should be withdrawn due to failure to adequately consider conservation or protection efforts by Alaska, failure to provide to Alaska’s agencies an adequate written justification for portions of NMFS’ final rule not consistent with the agencies’ comments, failure to properly document or support its determination that the beluga whales in Cook Inlet comprise a distinct population segment and failure to provide a public review and comment period on significant studies and documentation used to support the listing.
“With this notice of intent, we are informing the federal agencies that, unless corrected, we will file suit due to the decision’s failure to comply with provisions of the Endangered Species Act and the Administrative Procedure Act,” said Attorney General Talis Colberg. “Failure to consider protection measures already in place and failure to document and support key elements of this decision are major flaws in the final rule.”
Concern about the decline in Cook Inlet Beluga whales led the State of Alaska to petition NMFS to list the whales as depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), which resulted in restrictions on harvest beginning in 2000. The population has since stabilized and shows signs of recovery.
(Excerpt) Read more at gov.state.ak.us ...
If Charlie Crist fought for Florida like Sarah Palin fights for Alaska, we would have oil wells off shore today.
Go Sarah.
Alaska is in the crosshairs.
The Obama regime is gonna screw our largest state every way they can in order to hurt Sarah.
The EPA is already in the Leftist tank so this is just the beginning.
People, particularly leftists who have never lived in a wildnerness area, tend to have visceral reactions when whales and fuzzy little animals are involved.
Things like this can hurt Palin, even if they’re not at all rooted in reality.
But her willingness to stand up to peta and others gives her the political advantage in the long run.
Especially standing up to the federal big government busybodies.
PETA will retaliate by sneaking up behind some frail, elderly woman, and slash her fur coat, then run away. That’s how they operate here in MN. Never have seen them going to biker bars to slash leather jackets.
Protection measures already in place are not relevant to the leftists who only want communist style control over all of us. Just as reality of climate change being solely caused by the Sun is not relevant to the perpetrators of the man-caused global warming hoax. It is sad that the current administration failed to check the out of control EPA and other leftist groups.
Having no backbone to stand up to liberal whackiness is why the GOP is out of power.
Declaring the beluga “endangered” has the technical aftereffect of making Cook Inlet an Endangered Species Act “habitat” which must be protected.
That means every small or large development which might possibly maybe effect the Cook Inlet “habitat” - a home, a fishery, a new airport, a fishing tour company - is subject to some kind of federal impact assessment.
And that “habitat” includes the huge area from Anchorage and the watershed tributaries that feed into Cook Inlet, all the way down to the end of Kenai Peninsula, which is roughly a 20 - 40 mile by 100 mile stretch of water.
It’s that kind of federal micromanaging and the probable stanglehold on all commercial (aka “human”) activity in south central Alaska which has the EnviroNazis panting in anticipation.
They cannot wait to shut down Alaska with endless lawsuits and constant microscopic scrutiny of every major and minor development activity within 150 miiles of Anchorage.
Once they shut down Alaska, they will declare Alaska a worthless state and sell it back to Russia.
Alaska should sue PETA. Force them to spend millions on defending their actions.
That’s how Reagan beat the Soviets. He bankrupted them.
Exactly - further proof that the leftists are willing to do any sort of damage to the nation if it means they get their way (heck, doing damage to the nation IS their way).
This is not about "hunting" belugas, it's about keeping out undue federal involvement. The whales will be fine.
I wonder if they ever got the issue of “human waste” mats floating in Boston harbor?
I hope I can still move there after she secedes from the union.
Way to go Sarah! Sarah for President 2012, or sooner if possible. All Palin haters on this thread can kiss my a**.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.