Agencies extend habitat rule comment

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service have re-opened the public comment period for a proposal to simplify the process for identifying the critical habitat of species listed under the Endangered Species Act. The original 60-day public comment period closed on Oct. 23 but, following public interest in the proposal and multiple requests for more time for comments, the agencies are extending the comment period by an additional 90 days. The extended comment period will end on Feb. 6.

When an animal is listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act, the agency making the listing has to specify a critical habitat for the animal. But the act requires an economic evaluation of the critical habitat designation, with the potential for excluding areas of critical habitat from designation if the economic downside of designation outweighs the upside of habitat protection.

Fish and Wildlife and the Fisheries Service propose changing their Endangered Species Act regulations to require publication of preliminary estimates of the economic impacts along with a proposed habitat designation — the agencies have in the past completed the draft economic analysis at some time after the proposed habitat designation has been published for public review.

“Completion of the draft economic analyses at the time of (habitat) proposal would allow the agencies to refine habitat proposals earlier in the process, and provide the public with additional information to help them understand and comment on those proposals,” the agencies said in a Nov. 7 press release.

The proposal is part of a general effort to find improved ways to conserve imperiled species while also being consistent with an executive order by the president to identify regulatory changes that will achieve regulatory objectives more efficiently and effectively, the agencies said.

—Alan Bailey