Description: Lawsuit seeking to compel the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to publish proposed rules regarding the listing of 10 species as endangered or threatened.
-
Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 04/26/2022 Settlement Agreement Download Parties filed stipulated settlement agreement. Center for Biological Diversity and Fish and Wildlife Service Agreed to Timelines for Endangered Species Act Decision-Making, Including for Climate-Threatened Species. The Center for Biological Diversity and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) entered into settlement agreements to resolve claims that the FWS violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to complete listing determinations or to designate critical habitat for listed species. The species addressed in the litigation and in the settlements included species that the Center for Biological Diversity alleged were threatened by climate change, including the monarch butterfly and the San Francisco Bay-Delta population of the longfin smelt. The settlements provided for the dismissal with prejudice of claims with respect to species for which the FWS had taken action since the lawsuits were filed. For other species, the settlements set deadlines for 12-month findings on the listings of species or proposed determinations concerning critical habitat. 08/16/2021 Memorandum Opinion Download Westlands Water District's motion to intervene denied. 08/16/2021 Order Joint motion to enter into mediation and to stay proceedings granted. 07/22/2021 Motion Download Joint motion to enter into mediation and to stay proceedings filed by the parties. 04/01/2021 Complaint Download Complaint filed. Lawsuit Sought Protection for 10 Species Under Endangered Species Act. Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in federal district court in the District of Columbia requesting that the court order the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to publish proposed rules to list 10 species as endangered or threatened. The FWS previously determined that listing of each species was “warranted but precluded.” For two of the species, the plaintiff’s allegations include that climate change is one of the factors imperiling the species.