Environmental Law

Is an ESA exemption coming soon to a Pacific Theater near you?

Posted on February 10, 2008
For years, environmentalists have been suing the U.S. Navy over the effects of naval sonar training upon whales and other protected marine mammals and endangered species.  See, e.g., NRDC Press Release.  To some extent, the suits are focusing ...

Add the Longfin smelt to the Sacramento delta pile

Posted on February 10, 2008
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune environmentalist press releases, and Bay Area Indymedia, the California Fish and Game Commission in San Diego voted 3-0 on February 7, 2008 to designate the longfin smelt (Spirinchus thaleichthys), as a ...

FWS revisits finding on Bonneville cutthroat trout

Posted on February 10, 2008
73 Fed. Reg. 7236-7237 (Feb. 7, 2008) (12-Month Finding on a Petition To List the Bonneville Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarki utah) as Threatened or Endangered) SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the opening of a ...

FWS notice regarding Devils River minnow rulemaking

Posted on February 10, 2008
73 Fed. Reg. 7237-7242 (February 7, 2008)(Notice re: Designation of Critical Habitat for the Devils River Minnow) SUMMARY: “We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the reopening of the comment period on the proposed designation of ...

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No trash talk at ESAblawg!

Posted on February 04, 2008
"Garbage in, garbage out."  It a phrase often used by computer / IT geeks, but it applies equally to bloggers. (And they, too, are computer geeks!)   Consider this phrase an important reminder to you, the reader.  If you've ...

New FWS rule provides ESA protection for 6 foreign bird species

Posted on February 04, 2008
73 Fed. Reg. 3146-3179 (Jan. 18, 2008).  Final Rule To List Six Foreign Birds as Endangered. SUMMARY: "We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), determine endangered status for six foreign avian species under the Endangered Species Act ...

Forest Service nears contempt, and court threatens prison for Department of Agriculture official

Posted on February 01, 2008
Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics v. U.S. Forest Service, 2008 WL 110602 (D.Mont., Jan. 11, 2008)(Judge Molloy)(agency failure to meet deadlines deemed deliberate, triggering evidentiary contempt hearing.) BACKGROUND:     The ...

What does climate change mean for hibernating species?

Posted on February 01, 2008
Each day brings another news bite about the potential effects of climate change on species.  Today, National Geographic reported that global warming is creating extinction risks for hibernators.  See also, National Geographic (Feb. 2, ...

As if the Delta smelt wasn't enough... Chinook collapse in Sacramento Delta

Posted on January 31, 2008
For Californians wrestling with how to manage the needs of the Delta smelt and the need for regional water deliveries, (see ESAblawg, Dec.14, 2007) the difficulties in the Sacramento Delta keep getting worse.  According to a January 30, 2008 press ...

Gray wolf experimental population rule announced; lawsuit follows

Posted on January 31, 2008
U.S. Department of Interior, Fish & Wildlife Service: Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Revision of Special Regulation for the Central Idaho and Yellowstone Area Nonessential Experimental Populations of Gray Wolves in the Northern Rocky ...

The Preservation Predicament

Posted on January 29, 2008
On the front page of today’s (Jan. 29, 2008) Science section, the New York Times discussed “The Preservation Predicament.”  Echoing concepts previously discussed in this blawg, the Gray Lady tackled the green dilemma; namely, how to manage and ...

Deep coral: a future listed species?

Posted on January 23, 2008
Perhaps due to the passions of recreational snorkelers and divers worldwide, threats to tropical coral receives substantial attention, contributing to Endangered Species Act listing determinations for elkhorn and staghorn coral species.  But ...

Severed deer heads in the Florida Keys?

Posted on January 22, 2008
Once again justifying the criminal provisions of the ESA (see also Jan. 18, 2008 ESAblawg "Harassing a manatee"), multiple Florida newspapers today reported unusual killings of the endangered Key deer.  According to the Bradenton ...

Federal court rejects decision not to list greater sage grouse

Posted on January 19, 2008
Western Watersheds Project v. U.S. Forest Service, 2007 WL 4287476 (D.Idaho, Dec. 4, 2007)(reversing agency decision that listing of greater sage grouse was not warranted.)         Sage-grouse populations have been in significant ...

Harassing a manatee = prison

Posted on January 18, 2008
From an AP wire story, reported online by News4jax.com:  Two men who harassed a manatee in a canal, videotaped the encounter and posted it on a Web site were sentenced to prison Friday, after pleading guilty to violating the federal Endangered ....

Has climate change jeopardized the ESA?

Posted on January 18, 2008
Now that Al Gore won an Oscar, debates over climate change rage.  But what, exactly, does climate charge portend for the Endangered Species Act?  According to the Christian Science Monitor, the designation of critical habitat for elkhorn and ...

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