9:07 PM, Apr 29, 2015
by David Sikes/Caller Times
CORPUS CHRISTI – Fans of whooping cranes everywhere and proponents of environmental river flows in Texas received support last week from Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan, who now officially supports the effort to uphold a court decision that placed partial blame on the state for 23 crane deaths.
Last summer the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans threw out a 2013 decision by Senior U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack, who declared Texas water managers were partially responsible for the 2008-09 whooper die off in violation of the Endangered Species Act. An appellate court disagreed fully with Jack in its decision, referring to the district court’s action as an “abuse of discretion.”
A request is pending for the case to be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.
From the Fifth Circuit’s decision came a glimmer of hope in the form of a dissent opinion written by Fifth Circuit Judge Edward Prado, who suggested his fellow judges who voted to reverse Jack’s ruling applied their own facts to the case rather than using those of the trial judge. He wrote that . . .
To read David’s article, click here.
FOTWW thanks the Caller-Times for allowing us to share this article.
***** FOTWW’s mission is to help preserve and protect the Aransas/Wood Buffalo
population of wild whooping cranes and their habitat. *****
Friends of the Wild Whoopers is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization.
