A coalition of animal rights and conservation groups filed a federal lawsuit in Louisiana on Wednesday, accusing British Petroleum of violating the Endangered Species Act and other federal laws.

The lawsuit contends that “controlled burns” in the Gulf of Mexico are fatal to endangered sea turtles, which are unable to escape the boom and are then “burned alive,” according to Animal Welfare Institute President Cathy Liss.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana by AWI along with the Center for Biological Diversity, Turtle Island Restoration Network and Animal Legal Defense Fund.

“While cleaning up the catastrophic oil spill is critically important,” Liss said. “So too is doing it in a way which doesn’t destroy wildlife in a flagrantly unlawful manner.”

Tags: Groups Sue BP for Violations of Endangered Species Act

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 5:30 pm and is filed under BP Oil Spill, Environment News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.