Daily News Archive
From
April 13, 2006
Groups Sue
Fish & Wildlife Service Over Harvesting Of GE Crops On Wildlife
Refuge
(Beyond
Pesticides, April 13, 2006)
According to a federal lawsuit filed April 5, 2006 by a coalition of
environmental and public health organizations, the U.S.
Fish & Wildlife Service has for more than ten years illegally
entered into Cooperative Farming Agreements with private parties, allowing
some 500 acres of the Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge to be farmed,
some with genetically engineered (GE)
crops. The groups filed suit after discovering that a top Bush administration
political appointee overruled the wildlife refuge manager in allowing
the gene altered crops in violation of the Service’s own policy
prohibiting GE crops unless their use is “essential to accomplishing
[the] refuge purpose.” [Emphasis added]
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Wilmington on behalf of Delaware
Audubon Society, Public
Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and the Center
for Food Safety against the Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS), and
its parent agency, the Department
of Interior, alleges two violations of federal law. First, FWS has
failed to perform compatibility determinations required by the National
Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act for farming on the Refuge.
Second, FWS has failed to perform the environmental assessments required
by the National Environmental Policy Act to determine the effects of
allowing GE crops and associated pesticide applications on wildlife
habitat.
Allowing farming within wildlife refuges interferes with the protection
of the wildlife and native species that the national refuge system is
designed to protect. In fact, a 150 acre Test Area at the Prime Hook
Refuge was taken out of agricultural production for three years and
produced a wide diversity of bird, animal and plant habitats and species
diversity.
“Delaware Audubon believes the Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge
is being managed and operated in violation of federal law and in a manner
that is not consistent with the purposes for which the refuge was established,”
said Nicholas DiPasquale, Conservation Chair of Delaware Audubon. “The
objective of this lawsuit is to ensure that various uses and activities
at Prime Hook are properly conducted and will achieve and maintain the
biological integrity, diversity and environmental health of the refuge.”
The use of genetically engineered crops at national wildlife refuges
is highly controversial within the scientific community and the federal
government. Scientists warn that GE crops can have negative effects
on birds, aquatic animals, and other wildlife, and can lead to increased
use of herbicides that can harm plant species. Yet, without any consideration
of the environmental effects of allowing such crops on federal refuge
lands, Casey Stemler, a special assistant acting on behalf of Matt Hogan,
a former Safari Club lobbyist now serving as the acting Assistant Secretary
of Interior for Fish, Wildlife & Parks, overrode the Refuge manager
and ordered that planting of GE crops proceed at the Prime Hook Refuge.
“These refuges are supposed to be for wildlife, not chemical companies
or agribusiness,” stated Gene Hocutt, the head of PEER’s
Refuge Keeper program and a former long-time refuge manager. “Plowing
up native grasses for mutated row crops constitutes biological malpractice
of the highest order and a betrayal of the purposes of the National
Wildlife Refuge System.”
As many as 100,000 acres of refuge lands are currently under cultivation
in GE crops, according to agency documents obtained by PEER under the
Freedom of Information Act. There are 544 federal wildlife refuges located
in all 50 states.
“Genetically engineered crops have no place in our National Wildlife
Refuges. These gene-spliced crops are being planted to the detriment
of wildlife and their habitat,” commented Miyoko Sakashita of
the Center for Food Safety. “The Bush Administration is flouting
the law and ignoring environmental risks.”
The complaint asks for an injunction against any further commercial
activity on the Prime Hook Refuge until the required determinations
and studies are done to show that agricultural operations are compatible
with wildlife needs. Attorney Vivian Houghton working for the Mid-Atlantic
Environmental Law Center filed the complaint.
For more information
contact: Chas Offutt [PEER] (202) 265-7337;
Nicholas DiPasquale [Delaware Audubon] (302) 423-4140;
Miyoko Sakashita [Center for Food Safety] (415) 826-2770;
Kenneth Kristl [Mid-Atlantic Environmental Law Center] (302) 477-2053