The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has proposed a blanket National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) exclusion for itself under the Lacey Act. What does that mean?

NEPA requires USFWS, and all federal government agencies, to prepare environmental assessments and environmental impact statements. In other words, scientific and procedural due diligence must be completed before any species can be listed as injurious. An exclusion from this process would essentially make it much easier for USFWS to list species as injurious, which would end importation and interstate commerce for any species listed.

Currently, FWS can declare a categorical exclusion for anything it likes. That doesn't mean a court will agree the action is exempt from NEPA analysis. However, this adjustment to the Department of the Interior’s Departmental Manual would strengthen the legal basis for using a categorical exclusion.

This affects much more than large constricting snakes and much more than herps. This would affect many segments of the pet industry, especially the aquatic (fish) segment.

The negative economic impact could be huge. Just imagine if interstate commerce was illegal for ball pythons, boa constrictors, Pacman frogs, White’s tree frogs and Crested geckos.

It takes just a few minutes to express your opinion. After you complete the actions, share it with others in the herp community and pet owners. USARK has made it very easy to make your voice heard. Surely you have just 5-10 minutes to support your herp community, your friends and your colleagues.

USARK Action Alert can be found here.