They're baaaaacckkkk:

Friends of the Clearwater, Center for Biological Diversity, Palouse Prairie Foundation, Palouse Audubon and Palouse Group of Sierra Club filed a petition today with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requesting that the agency protect the giant Palouse earthworm as an endangered species. The earthworm has been found only four times in the past 110 years, including in 2005, and is immediately threatened by agriculture, urban sprawl, and invasive earthworms.

Predictably, it's all Dubya's fault:

Under the Bush administration, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rejected a previous petition from the groups to protect the earthworm, arguing that there was not enough information about the species. This move was typical of the administration, which adamantly opposed protecting species under the Endangered Species Act. Indeed, the administration protected only 62 species in eight years, compared to 522 species protected under the Clinton administration. In submitting the new petition, the groups provided additional information demonstrating the extreme rarity of, and severe threats to, the species.

Actually, the original petition to list the giant Palouse earthworm as an endangered species was COMPLETELY LACKING IN ANY HARD SCIENTIFIC DATA.   No one has any clue how many giant Palouse earthworms there may be left.  They could all be gone or there could be billions.  No one has any idea where their habitat may be.  There is also absolutely no indication that man's activities have harmed them or that other earthworms introduced by man have caused a decline in their population.  A petition to list the giant Palouse unicorn or Bigfoot as endangered species would have virtually as much scientific merit.

But, of course, the real issue here is that Palouse leftist wackos want to stop all growth in the region.  The declining aquifer excuse has thus far failed to do it, so now they will invoke the heavy hand of the federal government to do it instead.  New car dealership?  New golf course?  New "sprawl mall?"  New "cookie cutter" housing development?  You can guarantee that our liberal fascists and their NIMBY allies will ensure the planned site is a critical habitat for the giant Palouse earthworm.

We're going to have to push back on this one HARD, folks.