Steve,
FWIW, the basis for sueing the federal gov't (specifically, the Depts. of
Interior or Commerce) over endangered species listings (or lack thereof) rests
on the perceived violation of law as defined in the formal language of the
Endangered Species Act. That law legally requires listing and protection for
endangered taxa. When protection is withheld or overlooked, i.e., when the gov't
"breaks" or fails to adhere to its own law, the citizenry has a clear right to
file suit in order to force adherence to the law. Your hypothetical scenarios do
not not apply (as far as I can tell) since no law is being "broken" or bent or
ignored.
The Bush administration proposal will effectively remove the private citizen's
right to sue the gov't to abide by its own law.
Chris Scharpf
Baltimore
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association"
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association
/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
/ nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org