Will Tiny Fish Sink $1.6 Billion Toyota-Mazda Plant?

A tiny species of fish could be threatened with extinction if the huge Toyota-Mazda plant is built just west of Huntsville. That’s according to an environmental group that plans to go to court to save the fish.

The Spring Pygmy Sunfish is about an inch long. The Center for Biological Diversity says it only exists in a spring in Limestone County that will be threatened by the car plant. That’s why the group says it will sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for not designating the spring as a critical habitat.

“We won’t let this rare fish wait any longer for the habitat protections it’s guaranteed under the Endangered Species Act,” said Elise Bennett, an attorney at the center, in a statement. “Reckless development has already sent this little fish diving toward the brink of extinction. The Fish and Wildlife Service needs to protect the sunfish’s habitat immediately before this massive manufacturing plant destroys what’s left of it.”

You’ll remember back in January, the big announcement that Toyota and Mazda plan to build a $1.6 billion dollar joint venture plant in that same area. The plant is scheduled to open in 2021 and create 4,000 jobs.

The group wants another site to be found for the plant or measures put into place to protect the tiny fish.

– Photo from Alabama Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources