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Politics : Al Gore vs George Bush: the moderate's perspective -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JDN who wrote (4314)	11/2/2000 9:49:51 AM
From: long-gone	Respond to of 10042

OT(?) November 1, 2000 Skeen Fights Minnow-Habitat Ruling The Associated Press U.S. Rep. Joe Skeen, R-N.M., has filed a friend-of-the-court brief asking a federal judge to overturn a government decision designating critical habitat for the Rio Grande silvery minnow. The document was filed Friday as part of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District's lawsuit against Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. Skeen said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated such a large area for fish habitat that it raises the possibility that even opening an irrigation floodgate could be interpreted as destroying or altering habitat. It's wrong, he said, for a farmer to have to face the threat of criminal action for watering his crops. He said the habitat designation is vague, calling for "sufficient flowing water to provide food and cover needed to sustain all lifestages of the species .... to prevent stagnation . . . (and) to prevent formation of isolated pools." "Given such ambiguity," his brief says, "the availability of water within New Mexico will be controlled by a multitude of lawsuits and prosecutions brought in the guise of critical habitat protection each time any conduct related to the river takes place." Construction and maintenance of channels, canals, levees, dikes and diversion structures also would be affected, he said. (cont) abqjournal.com