Wildlife conservation groups sue over lack of plan for railroad to reduce grizzly deaths in Montana

abcnews.go.com:

Two wildlife conservation groups have filed a lawsuit against BNSF Railway over delays in finalizing a plan to reduce the number of federally protected grizzly bears that are killed by trains in northwestern Montana and northern Idaho

HELENA, Mont. — Two wildlife conservation groups have filed a lawsuit against BNSF Railway over delays in finalizing a plan to reduce the number of federally protected grizzly bears that are killed by trains in northwestern Montana and northern Idaho.

WildEarth Guardians and the Western Environmental Law Center filed the lawsuit in federal court in Missoula on Thursday arguing BNSF and other railroads that use their tracks, including Amtrak, have been killing grizzly bears without an incidental take permit for decades. Such permits, required under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, allow a certain number of protected animals to be killed in exchange for efforts by a company to try to reduce the deaths.

BNSF Railway says that even though it doesn't have a permit, it is taking measures to prevent grizzly bear deaths.

The railroad's first efforts to obtain an incidental take permit began in 2004 and have still not been completed nearly 20 years later, the lawsuit filed by the wildlife conservation groups says.

“We are extremely disappointed that, after all these years, BNSF has refused to change its business practices to prevent the unnecessary deaths of Montana’s iconic grizzlies, resulting in the tragic deaths of three bears just this fall,” Sarah McMillan, Wildlife and Wildlands Program director at the Western Environmental Law Center in Missoula. “When a company chooses to operate in the epicenter of key habitat for a threatened species, it must take some responsibility to adapt practices to