Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is seeking an emergency order to block a ruling that bars new Texas water permits.

U.S. District Judge Graham Jack ruled last week that Texas had not adequately managed its own waterways and was therefore responsible for the deaths of 23 endangered cranes.

In retribution for the deaths of the 23 birds Judge Graham handed down a ruling that the Attorney General said would cause significant economic harm to the economies along the Guadalupe and San Antonio Rivers.

Environmentalists sued Texas in 2010 with the claim that the whooping cranes had died from harm done to their food supply by the fresh water levels in the river.

The Emergency order to stop the implementation of the retaliatory ruling is justified because the state “can’t afford to wait for the lengthy appeals process,” according to Greg Abbott.

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