“Critical habitat” deadline may be extended

The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service’s Pacific Island office is considering asking its national offices in Portland, Ore. and Washington, D.C. to extend the April 30 deadline to publish critical habitat designations for endangered Hawai’i plants.

In August 1998, federal district court Judge Alan Kay ordered the Fish and Wildlife Service to publish proposed critical habitat designations in Hawai’i for 100 plants by November 30, 2000 and a remaining 145 plants by April 30, 2002.

Going back to court to ask for a time extension on designating critical habitats is under consideration, but as of Friday there was no formal request sent, said Barbara Maxfield, spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Honolulu.

“We can recommend things like that [time extensions], but any formal action would be taken by the regional office and Washington office,” Maxfield said.

The Fish and Wildlife Service and Earthjustice, the environmental law group that won the critical habitat lawsuit against FWS in 1998, have not been in contact as of Monday over the possible request. “They haven’t come to me with any requests for extending the deadline,” said David Henkin, Earthjustice’s lead attorney in Hawai’i.

The Concerned Citizens of Kaua’i and Ni’ihau gave U.S. Representative Patsy Mink on April 5 a 2,500-signature petition opposing the 100,000 acre designation and “obsolete data and sloppy science” the group claims was used in the proposal. One of the main purposes of the group was to get Kaua’i people alerted to the critical habitat proposal, said Betty Chandler, chairwoman pro tem.

Mink said she plans to introduce a bill to suspend the FWS’ critical habitat proposal until the FWS can get enough funding for solid scientific research.

“The extension of time would be good for everybody who’s concerned,” said Chandler.

Staff Writer Kendyce Manguchei can be reached at kmanguchei@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 252).