Environmental groups sue BNSF over grizzly bear deaths

Two environmental groups are suing western U.S. Class I railroad BNSF because its trains allegedly kill grizzly bears on federally protected grounds in Idaho and Montana, violating the Endangered Species Act.

Santa Fe, New Mexico-headquartered WildEarth Guardians and Hailey, Idaho-based Western Watershed Project said Thursday that BNSF should change operating schedules or train speeds to prevent deaths of grizzlies along 206 miles of rail in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE), located in and near the Northern Continental Divide and the Cabinet-Yaak regions. The NCDE also crosses multiple national forests and is on the southern border of Glacier National Park.

While BNSF has been seeking to develop a habitat conservation plan (HCP) that would mitigate grizzly bear deaths, the plan doesn’t include steps to change schedules or speeds, the environmental groups said in a release. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also has yet to approve BNSF’s HCP or an incidental take permit, they said. These permits can be sought when a non-federal entity believes their otherwise lawful activities may result in the taking of endangered or threatened animal species, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Furthermore, BNSF will add the Montana Rail Link to its network, which could threaten grizzly bears further.

“We are extremely disappointed that, after all these years, BNSF has refused to change its business practices to prevent the unnecessary deaths of Montana’s iconic grizzlies, resulting in the tragic deaths of three bears just this fall,” Sarah McMillan, wildlife and wildlands program director at the Western Environmental Law Center in Missoula, Montana, said in a release. Western Environmental Law Center filed the suit Thursday in the Missoula division of the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana.

“When a company chooses to operate in the epicenter of key habitat for a threatened species, it must take some responsibility to adapt practices to minimize its impacts on these animals,” McMillan continued. “It is truly ludicrous for BNSF to kill at least 63 threatened grizzly bears with no tangible action from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency in charge of protecting endangered and threatened species. The draft incidental take permit allowing BNSF to kill even more bears annually than it has on average to date is appalling.” The lawsuit gives 2000 as the starting date for when the environmental groups began tracking grizzly bear deaths.

Source: freightwaves.com