Description: Lawsuit to compel the Secretary of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to take action under the Endangered Species Act with respect to 24 species.
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Center for Biological Diversity v. Bernhardt
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 10/11/2019 Settlement Agreement Download Stipulated settlement agreement entered into by plaintiff and defendants. Federal Government Agreed to Take Actions Under Endangered Species Act to Resolve Lawsuit that Sought Action on Six Climate-Threatened Species. Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and U.S. Department of the Interior defendants reached an agreement that resolved CBD’s lawsuit that sought to compel action under the Endangered Species Act with respect to 24 species, including six species that CBD identified in its complaint as threatened by climate change. Pursuant to a stipulated settlement agreement, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must abide by a schedule for making 12-month findings as to whether listing is warranted for nine species, final listing determinations for two species, proposed critical habitat designations for four species, and final critical habitat designations for two species. The agreement provides that any challenges to final determinations made in accordance with the agreement must be filed in separate actions. 04/17/2019 Complaint Download Complaint filed. Lawsuit Filed to Compel Action Under Endangered Species Act for 24 Species, Including Climate Change-Threatened Species. Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in federal court in the District of Columbia challenging the Secretary of the Interior and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s failures (1) to make required 12-month findings on petitions to list 16 species under the Endangered Species Act; (2) to publish final listing determinations on two species; and (3) to designate critical habitat for six species. The complaint alleged climate change-related threats to six of the species that are the subject of this lawsuit—the Franklin’s bumblebee, the yellow-banded bumblebee, the meltwater lednian stonefly, the western glacier stonefly, the Miami tiger beetle, and the elfin-woods warbler.