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The Biden administration proposed federal protection this week for two freshwater mussel species that are found in the Rio Grande — in the same area where Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has installed a floating barrier to prevent migrants from crossing the river.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced on Monday that it is proposing listing the Salina mucket and Mexican fawnsfoot mussels as endangered under the Endangered Species Act and is also proposing to designate critical habitat for them.
The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Texas over the 1,000-foot long buoy barrier on the same day, asking the court to force the state to remove the line of bright orange, wrecking ball-sized buoys because of humanitarian and environmental concerns.
The suit also claims that Texas unlawfully installed the barrier without permission near the border city of Eagle Pass.
An endangerment declaration for the mussels could force Abbott to reel in the floating barrier and could prevent Texas from deploying more buoys in the border river, which would be considered a “critical habitat.”
According to Fish and Wildlife, mussels are “biological indicators of healthy streams and rivers that benefit people and wildlife.”
Declining populations of the Salina mucket and Mexican fawnsfoot mussels have been on the federal government’s radar for more than 30 years, with the Fish and Wildlife Service publishing a notice in the Federal Register in 1991 that detailed its plans to review whether they should be added to the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife.
The latest review of the mussel species was conducted in February. The Fish and Wildlife Service office in Albuquerque, New Mexico, found that a portion of the Rio Grande river from Eagle Pass toward the Gulf of Mexico is the only place in the world where these mussels exist.
In a 109-page report, the agency concluded that populations would drop “from a ‘low’ current condition to ‘very low’ over the next 25 years; however, we project the species will be extinct 50 years into the future.”
“In making this proposed listing determination, the Service carefully assessed the status of the Rio Grande mussels, including the past, present, and future threats that they face,” Amy Lueders, FWS’s Southwest regional director, said Monday in a statement. “Because the single existing populations of both species have low abundance, limited recruitment, and no ability to disperse into new areas, they are extremely vulnerable to extinction.”
Despite the government’s legal action earlier this week, Abbott has refused to remove the floating barrier in the Rio Grande.
“Texas will fully utilize its constitutional authority to deal with the crisis you have caused,” Abbott wrote in a letter to President Joe Biden on Monday. “Texas will see you in court, Mr. President.”