Environmental Law

Speculation on Species and Ms. Sotomayor

Posted on May 27, 2009
A potential Supreme Court Justice has been nominated, so let the wild speculation begin.  How might Sonia Sotomayor change the highest court?  Will she declare the Endangered Species Act unconstitutional?  Indeed, for all the talk about ...

Noting human-induced threats, NOAA proposes 4(d) rule to protect threatened green sturgeon population from take

Posted on May 21, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 23822 / Vol. 74, No. 97 / Thursday, May 21, 2009 DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE / National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration / 50 CFR Part 223 / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants: Proposed Rulemaking to Establish Take ...

Judge Redden outlines tentative position on 2008 biop in dispute over Columbia and Snake River dam operations, and impacts on salmonid species

Posted on May 20, 2009
It's not a court opinion - yet - but Judge Redden made his position clear in a May 18, 2009 letter to the parties in National Wildlife Federation v. NMFS, CV 01-640 RE, the long-running litigation over the Federal Columbia River Power System and salmonid ...

FWS announces recovery plan for short-tailed albatross, initiates 5-year status review

Posted on May 20, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 23739 / Vol. 74, No. 96 / Wednesday, May 20, 2009 / DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR / Fish and Wildlife Service / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Short-Tailed Albatross (Phoebastria albatrus): Initiation of 5-Year Status Review; ...

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Court of International Trade says no to jurisdiction over salmon dispute, but notes ability to hear future cases

Posted on May 19, 2009

Ninth Circuit rejects FWS decision not to list the flat-tailed horned lizard

Posted on May 19, 2009
Tucson Herpetological Society v. Salazar, No. 07-16641, D.C. No. CV 04-0075 NVW (9th Cir. May 18, 2009) INTRO: Conservation organizations and individual biologists (collectively “Plaintiffs”) contend that the Secretary of the Interior’s (the ...

FWS says coaster brook trout FWS declines to list coaster brook trout

Posted on May 19, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 23388 / Vol. 74, No. 95 / Tuesday, May 19, 2009 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR / Fish and Wildlife Service / 50 CFR Part 17 / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 12-Month Finding on a Petition To List the Coaster Brook ...

NOAA seeks comment on Atlantic sea scallop fishery chain mat rule designed to protect sea turtles

Posted on May 19, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 20667 / Vol. 74, No. 85 / Tuesday, May 5, 2009 / DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE / National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration / 50 CFR Parts 222 and 223 / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife; Sea Turtle Conservation ACTION: Proposed rule; ....

FWS revises piping plover critical habitat boundaries in Texas

Posted on May 19, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 23476 / Vol. 74, No. 95 / Tuesday, May 19, 2009 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR / Fish and Wildlife Service / 50 CFR Part 17 / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Revised Designation of Critical Habitat for the Wintering ...

Kentucky federal court rejects need for Forest Service to reinitiate consultation on Indiana Bats, notes absence of White Nose Syndrome

Posted on May 18, 2009
Heartwood, Inc. v. Agpaoa et. al., Civ. No.  07-114-KSF, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36667  (E.D. Kent. April 27, 2009)          BACKGROUND: The denial of a preliminary injunction in this case was previously discussed in ESA ...

Ninth Circuit upholds FWS listing of Central California tiger salamander (in unpublished opinion)

Posted on May 18, 2009
Home Builders Ass'n of Northern California v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, No. 07-17147 (9th Cir. April 10, 2009) (Not for publication...) OPINION: Home Builders Association of Northern California, California Building Industry Association, and ...

Federal Court in Utah upholds incidental take of golf course prairie dog population

Posted on May 18, 2009
Wildearth Guardians v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, No. 2:07-cv-00837 CW (D. Utah, April 22, 2009) INTRODUCTION.  In this action, Plaintiffs challenge two permits issued by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service under the Endangered ....

FWS proposes downlisting of Oregon chub to threatened status, based on improving population trends

Posted on May 18, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 22870 / Vol. 74, No. 93 / Friday, May 15, 2009 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR / Fish and Wildlife Service / 50 CFR Part 17 / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Proposed Rule To Reclassify the Oregon Chub (Oregonichthys crameri) From ...

Interior says no change in polar bear rule; new legislation, not the ESA, should regulate climate change

Posted on May 08, 2009
Earlier today, the U.S. Department of Interior announced that it would retain the Section 4(d) conservation rule for polar bears previously adopted in the waning days of the Bush Administration, see ESA blawg (Dec. 2008).  But in a press ...

FWS initial review of petition says listing of American pika may be warranted

Posted on May 07, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 21301 / Vol. 74, No. 87 / Thursday, May 7, 2009 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR / Fish and Wildlife Service / 50 CFR Part 17 / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 90-Day Finding on a Petition To List the American Pika as Threatened or ...

11th Circuit largely deferential to FWS biological opinion in Everglades, but rejects habitat-based approach to incidental take statements

Posted on May 05, 2009
Miccosukee Tribe of Indians v. USA, No. 08-10799 (11th Cir. May 5, 2009) REGIONAL CONTEXT: In 1948, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers undertook the Central & Southern Florida Flood Project, which it hoped would control flooding, divert water away ...

New ESA consultation rules officially rescinded, but debate encouraged to continue

Posted on May 05, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 20421 (Monday, May 4, 2009) / Vol. 74, No. 84 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR; Fish and Wildlife Service; 50 CFR Part 402 / DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; 50 CFR Part 402 / Interagency Cooperation Under ...

ESA in the news: Obama reverses Bush, Wyoming and Alaska hope to reverse Obama, and other stories of fishermen, falcons, turtles, salmon and butterflies

Posted on May 02, 2009
President Obama is undoing the Bush administration’s anti-environmental legacy, says the New York Times.  Rejecting Bush’s arguments about “streamlining” the process, he repealed the changes to the ESA consultation process...

Salazar and Locke Announce Repeal of Bush Administration Rules Changing Consultations under the Endangered Species Act

Posted on April 28, 2009
In a joint press release issued today, the Departments of Interior and Commerce announced a decision by Secretary Salazar and Secretary Locke to "Restore Scientific Consultations under the Endangered Species Act to Protect Species and ...

FWS reopens comment period and proposes additional critical habitat for salt creek tiger beetle and California red-legged frog

Posted on April 28, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 19167 (Tuesday, April 28, 2009) DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR / Fish and Wildlife Service / 50 CFR Part 17 / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Designation of Critical Habitat for the Salt Creek Tiger Beetle (Cicindela nevadica ...

ESA in the News: lobbying, legislation and NOAA biological opinion with jeopardy finding on pesticides

Posted on April 23, 2009
An interesting article from the New York Times today about the potential use, or in some minds, abuse, of the Endangered Species Act as a tool to change federal climate change policy (or lack thereof).  On the one hand, the article notes that EPA ...

NOAA announces listing of three distinct population segments of Puget Sound rockfish

Posted on April 23, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 18516 / Vol. 74, No. 77 / Thursday, April 23, 2009 DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE / National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration / 50 CFR Parts 223 and 224 / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants: Proposed Endangered, Threatened, and Not ...

FWS initial 90-day finding says listing the Tehachapi slender salamander may be warranted.

Posted on April 22, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 18336  / Vol. 74, No. 76 / Wednesday, April 22, 2009 / DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR / Fish and Wildlife Service / 50 CFR Part 17 / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 90-Day Finding on a Petition To List the Tehachapi Slender ...

ESA in the news: Happy Earth Day (?)

Posted on April 21, 2009
Media reports continue to warn of the steady march of climate change, with its alteration of habitat, and the threat of species extirpation or extinction.  RedOrbit noted the new book by University of California biologist Anthony Barnosky, ...

FWS reduces critical habitat for Peninsular bighorn sheep DPS

Posted on April 14, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 17288 / Vol. 74, No. 70 / Tuesday, April 14, 2009 / DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR / Fish and Wildlife Service / 50 CFR Part 17 / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Designation of Critical Habitat for Peninsular Bighorn Sheep and ...

ESA in the Courts: jurisdiction and mootness in U.S. District Courts for Arizona, D.C., and Northern California

Posted on April 14, 2009
Defenders of Wildlife, et al., v. Tuggle, CV 08-280 TUC DCB (Lead),,CV 08-820 PHX DCB (Consolidated), 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30121 (D.Az., April 1, 2009) SUMMARY: Plaintiffs challenged U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service procedures for wolf control actions ...

NOAA seeks comments on critical habitat designation for Cook Inlet Beluga Whales

Posted on April 14, 2009
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE / National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration / 50 CFR Part 226 / Endangered and Threatened Species: Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to Designate Critical Habitat for Cook Inlet Beluga Whales SUMMARY: We, the National ...

FWS rejects petition to list Longfin smelt population in Sacramento Delta

Posted on April 09, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 16169 / Vol. 74, No. 67 / Thursday, April 9, 2009 / DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR / Fish and Wildlife Service / 50 CFR Part 17 / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 12-Month Finding on a Petition to List the San Francisco Bay-Delta ...

FWS undertakes 5-year review on 13 Southeastern plants, including the Key tree cactus

Posted on April 09, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 16230 / Vol. 74, No. 67 / Thursday, April 9, 2009 / DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR / Fish and Wildlife Service / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 5-Year Status Reviews of 13 Southeastern Plant Species SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish ...

FWS revises draft recovery plan for Rio Grande silvery minnow

Posted on April 09, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 16232 / Vol. 74, No. 67 / Thursday, April 9, 2009 / DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR / Fish and Wildlife Service / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Recovery Plan for the Rio Grande Silvery Minnow (Hybognathus amarus)/ Notice of ....

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