Free the beetle, free the taxpayer: PLF files suit to force long overdue ESA delisting

Author: Brandon Middleton

In 1980, the valley elderberry longhorn beetle was listed as a threatened species by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.  But in 2006, the Service concluded in a study that the beetle had recovered and was a healthly species that no longer required federal protection.  Since then, however, the Service has sat on its own 2006 delisting recommendation and has stubbornly kept costly beetle regulations on the books.

This morning, Pacific Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit to put an end to this regulatory nonsense.  We have asked a federal court to compel the Service to respond to PLF’s September 2010 delisting petition–the court’s intervention is necessary to force the Service to finally begin removal of the beetle from the ESA list.

PLF’s lawsuit is important because, while the Service clings to its outdated beetle regulations, taxpayers are forced to watch as their money is squandered for unjustified federal protection of this species.  The situation for flood control districts and agencies is particularly outrageous, as they must devote their limited resources to beetle mitigation instead of actual flood control.

Stay tuned to the PLF Liberty Blog for more details on this lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of the North Sacramento Land Company, Levee District 1, Reclamation District 784, Sacramento Valley Landowners Association, Butte County Farm Bureau, Sonoma County Farm Bureau, and Yolo County Farm Bureau.