ENVIRONMENT

Lawsuits Promised Over Sea Turtle Deaths: U.S. environmental groups and the Georgia Fisherman’s Assn., a shrimp-fishing trade group, said they will sue the federal government, alleging that it failed to make foreign shrimpers as well as the U.S. fleet curb practices that cause rare sea turtles to drown. Under the federal endangered species act, U.S. shrimpers must use turtle-excluding devices to avoid trapping the air-breathing turtles under water. The plaintiffs--including Earth Island Institute, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Humane Society of the United States and the Sierra Club--want to ban shrimp imports, worth as much as $1.8 billion a year, from any of the 80 foreign nations that do not comply.