>>That there is a 60 public comment period tells me that there is a process still to be navigated. The public comments are to be considered, which adds more time.The SREL study wraps up in June (a month after the public comment period ends).
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>>I don't think that this will go through before the SREL study results are in.

I spoke to Whit Gibbons at SREL regarding the study and his answer is "We are currently conducting this research and results of our study will be released when they have undergone peer-review and have been accepted for publication in a scientific journal. We expect to have completed the goals of the project by June 2010 and plan to submit a paper describing our results for publication immediately after study completion."

There is no way that the paper can be written, peer reviewed, and accepted for publication in a scientific journal by June. There is no way to tell when specifically this data will be available and there is not even a way to guess accurately as there are variables involved beyond Whit's control. It may be months before it is peer reviewed and and accepted for publication.

While you are correct they may have made their decision, it may be too late in the process for the data to be considered.

It is unlikely that the USFWS will hold on their decision until some unknown date in the future. Of course the senate and house
are not beholden to these procedures and the current legislation
could be implemented at just about any time, beating the FWS regulatory effort to the punch.

You have to understand here that we are now on the back side of a 3 year FWS process that started 2 years ago. This isn't new
and there is not much of the process left to work through.

As I explained to Whit this is the definition of the phrase "results being academic" as by the time his study data is ready from our perspective the point may be moot.

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