Bush Administration Delays Protection of Penguins

The Center for Biological Diversity filed a formal notice today that it intends to sue the Bush administration for delaying protection of penguins under the Endangered Species Act. In November 2006, the Center filed a petition to list 12 species of penguins as threatened or endangered under the Act the petition triggered a strict deadline that gave the government 12 months to determine whether protection is warranted for the penguins. In July, the Fish and Wildlife Service found that 10 of the species may deserve protection and began status reviews for those penguins, including the well-known emperor and rockhopper penguins. Now the government is ignoring its duty to move forward with protections for those 10 species, which are threatened by global warming.

"There's no time to wait when it comes to global warming," said Kassie Siegel, director of the Center's Climate, Air, and Energy Program. "We won't allow the Bush administration to continue to violate the law while these penguin species march toward extinction."