Description: Action to compel a listing determination under the Endangered Species Act for the emperor penguin.
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Center for Biological Diversity v. Bernhardt
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 03/24/2020 Minute Order Order issued incorporating terms of stipulated settlement agreement, dismissing action with prejudice, and providing that court shall have continuing jurisdiction to enforce terms of agreement. 02/19/2020 Settlement Agreement Download Stipulated settlement agreement filed. 07/31/2019 Complaint Download Complaint filed. Lawsuit Filed to Compel Endangered Species Act Determination on Emperor Penguins. The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) filed a lawsuit in federal court in the District of Columbia to compel the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to issue a finding as to whether listing the emperor penguin under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is warranted. CBD petitioned for the listing of the emperor penguin in 2011 and asserted the FWS violated the ESA and the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to make a 12-month finding in response to the petition. The complaint alleged that the emperor penguins “face a potentially insurmountable threat: anthropogenic climate change,” and cited a 2019 study that documented a “catastrophic breeding failure” during the past three years in the world’s second-largest colony following record low sea-ice extent and early sea-ice breakup as well as a 2017 study projecting a global population decline of 40–99% by the century’s end.