By Associated Press
Mobile AL – An industry group has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court decision upholding the federal government's inclusion of the Alabama sturgeon on the endangered species list.
The Alabama-Tombigbee Rivers Coalition filed the appeal Friday, asking the high court to overturn a May ruling by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeals court ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acted properly in determining that the sturgeon is endangered.
The coalition includes Alabama Power Co., the Alabama State Port Authority, organizations representing barge companies and other river users. Its appeal argues that the 11th Circuit "adopted a boundless interpretation of the commerce power that extends federal regulation to a rare species of fish ... that is found in only one state and has no commercial use."
Tom MacKenzie, a spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service, said the organization is confident in its decision to list the Alabama sturgeon as an endangered species and is working with the state "to conserve this extremely rare fish."
The coalition's appeal continues a battle that has been going on since 1993, when the federal government proposed putting the Alabama sturgeon on the endangered species list.
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Information from: Press-Register, http://www.al.com/mobileregister