Grijalva Calls FWS Rejection of Endangered Wolf Petition “Delusional,” Questions Agency’s Commitment to Gray Wolf Recovery

Washington, D.C. – Earlier today the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), which is still considering how to proceed with its June 2013 proposed rule to eliminate Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for the gray wolf, dismissed a petition submitted in January to downlist the species from endangered to threatened rather than remove ESA protections entirely. The dismissal rejects the best available science and ignores a March 4 letter submitted by 79 House Democrats, led by Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva, urging Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to support the petition, which would give states flexibility to manage wolf populations while also allowing their recovery to continue.

Grijalva said today’s petition rejection shows that the FWS is illegally refusing to follow the ESA’s requirements to base its actions on the best available science. The agency has lost two recent court cases, in Wyoming and the Great Lakes region, over its attempts to eliminate protections for wolf populations in those areas. Continuing to ignore its conservation responsibilities, Grijalva said, is no longer an option for the agency.

“Despite its good work in many areas, the Fish and Wildlife Service seems determined not to protect gray wolves no matter what the law, or the science, has to say about it,” Grijalva said. “Rejecting this reasonable petition out of hand and continuing to push a fatally flawed delisting proposal forward is scientifically unsound and delusional. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is Einstein’s definition of insanity, and conservation groups are within their rights to take FWS to court for refusing yet again to complete gray wolf recovery efforts. The agency will have no one but itself to blame.”