U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials have agreed to pause an algaecide experiment in Lake Mattamuskeet until next year.
Plans were in place to treat cyanobacteria, known as blue-green algae, using a product that the Environmental Protection Agency determined is toxic to birds in the 40,000-acre lake. The lake is within the 50,180-acre Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge.
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The work was to take place in about 400 acres, or 1%, of the lake, starting this summer, continuing through the end of October, and resuming next April.
The Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife, represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center, filed a federal lawsuit May 20 asking the court to issue a preliminary injunction to block the service from allowing the algaecide experiment. Following a hearing on the request in federal court in Raleigh, the Fish and Wildlife Service voluntarily agreed to pause its plans to move forward with the project in the eastern North Carolina lake.
“This is a great day for everyone who values Lake Mattamuskeet and all of the geese, swans, ducks and hundreds of other birds that gather at the wildlife sanctuary,” Ramona McGee, Southern Environmental Law Center senior attorney, said in a statement. “We’re all so relieved that these birds will not be exposed to toxic chemicals this year while the court reviews the legal problems with the Fish and Wildlife Service’s rushed and inadequate approval of this dangerous experiment.”
The Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed that it will not proceed with the experiment this year while all parties work through litigation, with the hope of reaching a decision by the planned April 2025 restart date. Late Tuesday, the court entered an order confirming the agreement and setting the schedule for briefing the case, the law center said.
“This agreement ensures that Lake Mattamuskeet and the birds that pass through it on their migratory paths will be kept safe from dangerous experiments with toxic chemicals — for now,” Defenders of Wildlife Senior Attorney Jane Davenport said. “We are confident that when the court decides the merits of the case that it will instruct Fish and Wildlife Service to ensure that the Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge is fully protected from such poorly designed experiments, as the law requires.”
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Related: Lake Mattamuskeet algaecide pilot study tied up in court
“We’re glad that common sense has prevailed and provided more time to scrutinize this flawed plan,” North Carolina Sierra Club Action Director Erin Carey said. “We hope that closer review will prove that there’s no defensible reason why an algaecide that’s toxic to birds should be tested at one of this region’s most important bird sanctuaries.”
A representative in response for a request for comment explained Friday that the Fish and Wildlife Service does not comment on active or pending litigation.
