House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today issued the following statement regarding U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s proposal to list the wolverine as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The wolverine was one of hundreds of species included in a 2011 settlement agreement between the Department of the Interior and litigious environmental organizations.

“This is the latest in the continuing push of listings that the Fish &Wildlife Service is rolling out - not based upon sound science or any economic analyses - but as a result of arbitrary deadlines it created for itself behind closed-doors in settlement with litigious environmental groups that have an agenda to block energy and economic activities.”