By Ian James | Arizona Republic
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is standing by a decision that could smooth the way for a proposed 28,000-home development near the San Pedro River, despite the account of a former official who said he reversed his position under pressure from a higher-up in the Trump administration.
The Fish and Wildlife Service said in a letter last week that the agency’s Arizona office reviewed its decision on the proposed development, Villages at Vigneto, and found that the allegations by retired official Steve Spangle “do not change our previous determinations.”
Spangle, who retired last year, spoke out in newspaper interviews in April, revealing how he changed his decision on the proposed development near Benson.
