President Bush is asking Congress to effectively suspend a part of the Endangered Species Act that lets citizens sue the government if they think the feds are not moving quickly enough to add species to the protected list. In the past, environmentalists have used the right to sue to win protections for dozens of species in trouble. Yesterday, they described the move by Bush — contained in his budget proposal — as “an invitation to extinction.” Under Bush’s plan, citizens could still sue, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could not spend any money enforcing the results of the suits, essentially making them meaningless. Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) said, “If American citizens can’t sue to assure the federal government protects endangered species and their critical habitats, who will? The animals?”
