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of an endangered spec ies or its critical habitat, then the project must be altered or cancelled as necessary to remove that threat. In other words, rather than balance endangered species considerations with other' considera- tions, the Act requires that impacts on endangered species be avoided regard- less of other objectives. This restriction is especially important where critical habitat is invol- ved. It is much more likely that a biological opinion will find that proposed development will "modify" critical habitat rather than "jeopardize" the exis- tence of the species. Not only does the consultation process raise the possibility of costly alterations of development projects, it also may lead to substantial delays, which can also be quite costly. Regulations promulgated by the Fish and Wild- life Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service require that "Until consultation has been completed and a biological opinion has been issued, good faith consultation shall preclude a Federal agency from making an irreversible or irretrievable commitment of resources which would foreclose the considera- tion of modifications or alternatives to the identified activity or program. "* Potentially, this could stop work on a project while biological studies are completed to determine its impact on endangered species or critical habitat. In the Grayrocks case, for example, the FWS at first estimated that 3 years would be required to conduct the studies necessary to the rendering of the biological opinion. Although these regulations are applicable only to listed species, fears have been expressed in some quarters that the Endangered Species Act provided a "hunting license" for environmental groups who could stop any project by discovering some obscure species or subspecies in the area affected by the project. This could happen because, according to FWS regulations, any person may petition for the review of the status of any species.** If, as a result of this petition, the species is listed, the project becomes subject to the Act, and a consultation process must be initiated. The possibility could put \~ ~<, *50 C.F.R., Part 402.04. ~V; ~, , i,fIlJ **50 C.F.R., Part 17.13. A~'-," . . . t\ V , '{\<W " tt, ~~, ~ \\19 ~(~~:~tP' 't\ 12 ,