U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service will hold a federal public hearing on Tuesday, June 13, at the TAMIU Student Center Ballroom #203 to potentially list the Texas hornshell mussel (Popenaias popeii) as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
A public information session is set from 5 to 6 p.m. The public hearing begins at 6:30 p.m. and continues to 8:30 p.m.
The hornshell has almost disappeared from the Río Grande, except for small pockets found along certain segments of the river in Laredo. The presence of certain freshwater mussels in rivers are a good indicator of water quality.
U.S. F&W has re-opened its public comment period on this species. The deadline to submit written comments is June 29, 2017. Written comments can be submitted electronically by going to the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. Enter FWS-R2-ES-2016-0077 in the search box. Submit a comment by clicking on “Comment Now!”
Hard copy submissions can be sent by U.S. mail or hand-delivery to: Public Comments Processing Attn: FWS-R2-ES-2016-0077 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters MS: BPHC, 5275 Leesburg Pike Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
For further information, contact Colin McDonald,
Policy Analyst, Economic Growth and Endangered Species Management for the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts at (512) 936-8591.
(Document availability: Copies of the proposed rule and Species Status Assessment Report are available on the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov at Docket No. FWS-R2-ES-2016-0077, or by mail from the Texas Coastal Ecological Services Field Office)
From: Colin McDonald [mailto:Colin.McDonald@cpa.texas.gov] Sent: Thursday, June 1, 2017 7:26 AM To: Tricia Cortez <tricia@rgisc.org> Subject: Meeting in Laredo
Good morning Tricia,
I wanted to make sure you saw the announcement of the public meeting in Laredo on June 13.
