Articles

Author:  Damien M. Schiff On Tuesday, we announced the filing of a petition with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to delist the California gnatcatcher from the Endangered Species Act. In this post, I’d like to go into a little detail as to why the gnatcatcher should not be a listed subspecies. In 1993, … ...

Author: Reed Hopper Although U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists have recommended reclassifying the wood stork from endangered to threatened because the stork's range and population have doubled in recent years, activists rage over the Florida Home Builders' request that the Service take action on its own recommendation. Rather than&# ...

Author: Reed Hopper A few years ago, Pacific Legal Foundation filed suit to compel the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to conduct mandatory 5-year status reviews for more than 100 threatened or endangered species in the State of California.  It was the largest lawsuit of its kind in the history of the Endangered Species Act … ...

Author: Reed Hopper Sean Paige has an interesting piece at The Huffington Post; "The Maguire Daisy: Regulatory Triumph or Bureaucratic Blunder?"  Mr. Paige calls the Department of Interior's declaration, that the delisting of the Maguire daisy is a triumph for the ESA, nothing more than "shameless spin.� ...

Author: Reed Hopper We all know the old nursery rhyme Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?  But have we ever pondered the question?  In modern society, large gardens–the kinds that feed nations–grow with the prudent use of pesticides.  CropLife International provides this timely reminder: Pesticides h ...

Author: Reed Hopper In May, 2008, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the polar bear as a "threatened" species under the Endangered Species Act.  This resulted in a number of challenges by environmental groups, the State of Alaska, conservation groups, and Pacific Legal Foundation representing farmers, land owners, as well as ...

Earlier this week, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service reissued a rule under Section 4(d) of the Endangered Species Act, allowing the “take” of polar bear.  The District of Columbia federal district court had overturned a prior version on the ground that the Service had failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Ac ...

Earlier today, in In re: Polar Bear Endangered Species Act Listing & Section 4(d) Rule Litigation, a three-judge panel of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the United States Fish and Widlife Service’s decision to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the ESA.  (Pacific Legal Foundation represents several of the plain ...

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the DC Circuit’s opinion today upholding the polar bear listing relies mainly on the principle of deference to administrative decision-making that is at the so-called “frontiers of science.”  But I think it also fair to say that the court misconstrued or simply misunderstood what PLF’s mai ...