Long-Delayed Decisions on Endangered Species

Belatedly, the Interior Department’s Fish and Wildlife Service is giving about 261 more animals a thumbs up or down for protection under the Endangered Species Act, the 1973 law that was among the early triumphs of the environmental movement. Moreover, the service has finished preliminary work on more than 550 other potential candidates for the endangered-species list, almost all of which will be further evaluated after the backlog is erased.