December
26, 2018
A trio of
salamander species in Northern California could complicate a controversial $1.4
billion public works project to heighten the Shasta Dam, the state's largest
reservoir.
The Los
Angeles Times reports Wednesday that two environmental groups filed a federal lawsuit last
month asking a judge to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to determine
if Shasta salamanders should be protected under the Endangered Species Act.
One of
the groups, the Center for Biological Diversity, asked the wildlife service in
2012 to declare the salamanders endangered or threatened, but the agency has
not made a decision, said Jenny Loda, an attorney for the group.
Environmentalists
say the project would destroy the amphibians' habitat and put them at risk of
extinction.
The
lawsuit was prompted in part by the federal government's sudden momentum in
efforts to raise the Shasta Dam nearly two stories.
The
California Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, passed in 1972, prohibits the 602-foot
structure from getting any taller. But the Trump administration is moving
forward with the plan.
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