Normally many farmers would oppose a federal agency’s attempts to interfere in their farming efforts through the declaration of an endangered insect that lives in the ground.
But BOLD Nebraska has taken the side of the American burying beetle and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in fighting the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline project. In a recent fund-raising newsletter, BOLD said TransCanada’s application for an “incidental take permit” would be a “license to kill” an endangered species if it were granted.
BOLD described what would happen, stating that TransCanada would “freely kill up to 551 endangered American burying beetles, by crushing them with construction equipment, and destroying their habitat.”
There was no explanation how BOLD knew that 551 beetles would be killed.
“There is no reason to further endanger the habitat of the American burying beetle or any other endangered species that is threatened by the proposed Keystone XL pipeline — which is trampling the sovereign rights of Tribal nations, abusing eminent domain for private gain to seize farmers’ land against their will, and threatening our land, water, and climate,” stated the group that was formed to oppose the pipeline.
The Fish and Wildlife Service recently decided to downlist the American burying beetle from endangered to threatened under the Endangered Species Act, a move that prompted support from Oklahoma U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe and U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin.
“Downlisting the American burying beetle from endangered to threatened is the right call and the first step to total delisting,” said Inhofe. “Since it was listed over 30 years ago, the population of the ABB has made a resurgence – dramatically expanding the areas that are forced to deal with cost and red tape to work around its habitat.”