13 



stated that they did not think listing would benefit K^. f_. spooneri any- 

 more than the protection it was already afforded on Big Sand Mound by 

 IIGE. IIGE said that they would maintain the area as protected but feared 

 additional regulatory burden. Areas outside Big Sand Mound were never 

 addressed in IIGE submittals. 



Evidence of lobbying continued. On March 13, .lames D. Webb, Deputy 

 Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, informed the Director 

 of FWS that the Congressional Office of Management and Budget, the agency 

 responsible for the budgets of federal programs including the Endangered 

 Species Program, had decided to make a "case study" of the proposed 

 listing of the Illinois mud turtle to determine if proper compliance with 

 Executive Order 12044 had been adhered to, the first such request ever re- 

 ceived by FWS. Accordingly, a briefing statement dated March 19 was pre- 

 pared by FWS; no irregularities or errors were found as a result of this 

 review. 



On March 19, a Freedom of Information Act request was filed with FWS 

 by U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch, a close associate of Senator R. ..lepsen. 

 Subsequently, an aide from Senator Hatch's office visited the Office of 

 Endangered Species of FWS to review all data, but could find no impro- 

 prieties in FWS procedures or analysis of data (J. Black, pers. comm.). 

 Senator Jepsen furnished a letter to Monsanto from Cecil Andrus, Secretary 

 of the Interior, in response to his inquiries, which prompted another 

 long letter from Monsanto dated March 25 in which essentially the same 

 topics were discussed as in their March 3 letter. 



When Congress passed the Endangered Species Act Amendments in 197^, 

 it specified that a two year deadline be imposed on all proposals to list 

 species as endangered or threatened. Consequently, the date July 7, 

 1980, assumed special importance to the Illinois mud turtle since the sub- 

 species would have to be listed or withdrawn by that date. By March 22, 

 1980, however, all public comment periods, which had been specifically 

 reopened at Monsanto's request to allow submission of LGL's and Bickham's 

 final results, were closed. After extensive review by biologists both 

 within and outside the Office of Endangered Species, it was decided that 

 the Illinois mud turtle should be listed as an endangered species with 

 the critical habitat modified as requested by industry. By this time, 

 the population in Clark county, Missouri, had been discovered. However, 

 because of the two year deadline imposed by Congress, it would have been 

 impossible to propose this area as critical habitat in connection with 

 the listing. Therefore, it was decided to propose this area at a later 

 date after listing. This course of action was recommended to the State 

 of Missouri, who concurred (T. Johnson, pers. comm.). By April 29, 

 1980, the final rule had been approved by the Office of Endangered Species. 



Unbeknownst to biologists in OES, however, on April 15, 1980, Lynn 

 Greenwalt, then Director of FWS, wrote a letter to Chester 0. McCorkle, Jr. 



