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Groups Intend to Sue FWS for Failure to Take Timely Action on Hippopotamus ESA Petition

The Center for Biological Diversity, Humane Society International, Humane Society of the United States, and Humane Society Legislative Fund sent a 60-day notice of intent to sue to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS). The senders intend to sue FWS for violating the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by not making a timely 12-month finding on their March 24, 2022 petition to list the common hippopotamus under the ESA. The agency’s 12-month finding following its positive 90-day finding was due March 24, 2023.

Groups Intend to Sue FWS for Failure to Take Timely Action on Manatee ESA Petition

The Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Biological Diversity, Miami Waterkeeper, Save the Manatee Club, and Frank S. González Garcia sent a 60-day notice of intent to sue to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS). Represented by the Harvard Law School Animal Law & Policy Clinic, the senders intend to sue FWS for violating the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by not making a timely 12-month finding on their November 21, 2022 petition to uplist the West Indian Manatee, the Florida manatee, and Antillean manatee subspecies as endangered under the ESA. The agency’s 12-month finding following its positive 90-day finding was due November 21, 2023.

Federal Court Upholds NMFS 90-Day Finding Against Delisting Arctic Ringed Seals

The U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska denied a challenge brought by the State of Alaska and the North Slope Borough against the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) 90-day finding on their petition to remove Endangered Species Act protections for Arctic ringed seals. The court found that “NMFS provided a rational connection between the facts it observed and its conclusion” in its 90-day finding and ruled that there was “no reason to vacate” the agency’s decision in response to Plaintiffs’ petition to delist. The Center for Biological Diversity had intervened as a defendant in the case.

Federal Court Enjoins Recreational Wolf Trapping and Snaring in Grizzly Bear Habitat

The U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho enjoined an Idaho statutory provision that established a year-round wolf trapping season on private property. It also permanently enjoined the Idaho Department of Fish & Game and Idaho Fish and Wildlife Commission from “authorizing recreational gray wolf trapping and snaring on public or private land in grizzly bear habitat . . . except during the time period when it is reasonably certain that almost all grizzly bears will be in dens: December 1 to February 28.” The legal challenge to Idaho’s expanded wolf trapping and snaring law was brought by 13 groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, Humane Society of the United States, and Sierra Club.

Ninth Circuit Rules FWS Erred in Calculations Underlying Incidental Take Regulation for Alaskan Polar Bears

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) must correct calculations for an incidental take regulation (ITR) it promulgated under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The ITR allows oil and gas companies to harass Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears on the North Slope of Alaska. The court found that certain aspects of the agency’s calculations regarding the probability that the oil and gas extraction activities would harm the polar bears were arbitrary and capricious. The decision reversed the lower court as to those calculations but affirmed as to other issues, and the court remanded to FWS without vacating the ITR. The underlying lawsuit was brought by the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, Alaska Wilderness League, Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, Environment America, Friends of the Earth, and Sierra Club.

FWS Opens Public Comment Period on Multiple ESA Permit Applications

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) received multiple Endangered Species Act permit applications for the capture, handling, identification, radio-tagging, release, or sampling of multiple protected species of bats, squirrels, fish, and mussels. FWS will accept public comments on the applications through April 17, 2024.

Federal Judge Rules NMFS Improperly Closed 200 Square Miles of Ocean to Lobster Fishing

The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled in favor of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, who alleged that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) improperly promulgated a rule closing 200 square miles of ocean to lobster fishing to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales. The court found that the NMFS’s rule did not fall within a carveout to the moratorium on new lobster fishing regulations that the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 put in place through 2028 and that the rule was thus precluded by that Act until after 2028.

Bill Would Narrow Endangered Species Act Jurisdiction

S. 3963 would remove “noncommercial species found entirely within the borders of a single state” from federal interstate commerce jurisdiction and Endangered Species Act regulation. The bill was introduced by Senator Mike Lee with two original cosponsors and was referred to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Bill text is not yet publicly available.

Conservation Groups Sue Federal Agencies to Protect ESA-Listed Birds and Fish from Livestock Grazing

The Center for Biological Diversity and the Maricopa Audubon Society sued the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, alleging the agencies have violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by authorizing livestock grazing that jeopardizes habitat for endangered birds and fish within the Agua Fria National Monument. The groups are seeking declaratory judgment and an order requiring the agencies to take certain actions, including requiring BLM “to take the actions necessary to prevent any further irreversible and irretrievable adverse impacts” to the yellow-billed cuckoo and the Gila chub and to their habitat.