Articles

PLF files petition to downlist the West Indian Manatee

December 14, 2012 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

Today, PLF filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to have the West Indian Manatee and subspecies thereof, including the Florida Manatee, downlisted from endangered to threatened. Five years ago, the FWS concluded in its review of the species that the manatee was very unlikely to become endangered anytime in the next 100 ...

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FWS plans to downlist endangered status of wood stork

December 19, 2012 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

Yesterday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announced its intent to downlist the wood stork from endangered to threatened. This comes after years of arm-twisting by PLF and its client, the Florida Homebuilders Association (FHA), to get the Service to abide by its statutory duty to review species on the endangered and threatened lists, ...

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PLF responds to article attacking our involvement in wood stork downlisting

January 14, 2013 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

Friday, the Palm Beach Post ran an op-ed by Alan DeSerio, managing attorney for PLF’s Atlantic Center in Florida. DeSerio responds to an op-ed run by the paper, which portrayed an imaginary version of PLF’s involvement in the FWS’s proposed downlisting of the wood stork from “endangered” to “threatened.” In ...

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President's weekly report — January 31, 2014

January 31, 2014 | By ROB RIVETT

Environment — Right to challenge wetlands designation mistake We filed this opposition to the federal government’s motion to dismiss our case against the government in Duarte Nursery v. United States Army Corps of Engineers.  That’s the case where the Corps ordered John Duarte to stop farming on his property, supposedly becaus ...

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PLF files challenge to bureaucrats' decision to ignore the law

April 30, 2014 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

Today, PLF filed a lawsuit on behalf of Save Crystal River, Inc., against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services (FWS) for ignoring a petition to downlist the recovering West Indian manatee. The Service has already acknowledged that the species has recovered to the point that it isn’t endangered–a 2007 scientific review recommended the dow ...

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Government acknowledges downlisting manatee might be warranted

July 01, 2014 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced its plan to publish a 90-day finding acknowledging that the petition we filed on behalf of Save Crystal River presents substantial scientific evidence that warrants further review. Our arm-twisting has paid off. We filed a lawsuit a couple of months ago to compel the government to pay … ...

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PLF sees common sense in manatee lawsuit

August 04, 2014 | By MARK MILLER

The Palm Beach Post published a PLF Atlantic Center op-ed today regarding our most recent win in the federal courts of Florida earlier this summer.  In that suit, we represented Save Crystal River, Inc., in its effort to require the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to abide by the Endangered Species Act.  The op-ed begins: A … ...

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Manatee population grows while feds dither

February 19, 2015 | By MARK MILLER

The Miami Herald brings news today that the manatees of Florida continue the population surge that the federal Fish & Wildlife Service identified as far back as 2007. Outdoor writer Sue Cocking of the Herald reports: Manatee conservation is at a crossroads, and the town of Crystal River — located about a 1 1/2-hour drive … ...

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Manatee population strong

March 17, 2015 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission released its latest manatee count, revealing that at least 6,063 manatees were swimming the waters of Florida last month.  This is the most manatees ever counted since the Commission began the surveys in 1991. The state Commission counts manatees by conducting an aerial survey of areas where manatees typica ...