News & Updates
Conference of Western Attorneys General
July 26, 2023
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ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT (ESA) |
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A coalition of Kansas counties, ranchers, and farmers sued the Interior Department to block federal protections for the lesser prairie chicken just days after advanced legislation that would do the same thing.
The Kansas Natural Resource Coalition, which represents 30 county governments, along with several farmers and ranchers, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas against the Interior Department and the Fish and Wildlife Service, claiming the listing decision violates the Endangered Species Act and other federal laws.
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The North Cascades Ecosystem Grizzly Bear Restoration and Plan Environmental Impact Statement has been published. To review the Public Scoping Comment Analysis Report, click the link below.
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Feds get cracking on dozens of delayed ESA decisions. The Fish and Wildlife Service's moves are prompted by a wide-ranging 2020 lawsuit over listings and critical habitat protections for 241 species.
The Fish and Wildlife Service is advancing on several Endangered Species Act fronts, with a long-delayed proposal to list the green floater mussel as threatened and a court settlement yesterday setting decision deadlines for an additional 33 species.
Both moves were prompted by a wide-ranging 2020 lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity. In the suit brought in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the environmental group sought to compel Fish and Wildlife to complete ESA listing and critical habitat actions for 241 species. Several partial settlements since then have whittled down the number of unresolved species decisions.
As part of the new settlement agreement, the Center for Biological Diversity agreed to withdraw ESA listing petitions for 22 species included in the original lawsuit filed in 2020. These 22 petitions to be withdrawn cover species including the Venus flytrap, which the service announced didn't warrant ESA listing. The green floater petition is also being withdrawn, coinciding with the agency's proposal for the mussel.
The agency said it had determined that the green floater historically existed in 179 watersheds across 10 states and the District of Columbia, but 85 of these watersheds have had no sightings since 1999.
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The House Natural Resources Committee said they were checking into violation of tribal sovereignty in passing legislation to reverse a 20-year oil moratorium around a sacred Native American site in New Mexico. The “Energy Opportunities for All Act,” H.R. 4374, would remove the administration's moratorium on new oil and gas leasing and mining claims within 10 miles of the Chaco Culture National Historical Park that was announced earlier this year. The bill passed 22-16.
The Chaco Canyon withdrawal is the culmination of years of organizing by Puebloan tribal governments, activists, and New Mexico lawmakers to extend limits on mining and drilling on lands that host thousands of Native American sites dating back to the Chacoan civilization, which dominated the southwest landscape during the Middle Ages before Europeans arrived in the Americas.
While the moratorium does not block development on existing leases or on Native lands in the area, Republicans on Wednesday highlighted that the withdrawal has also run afoul of current Navajo Nation leaders, who say it would make drilling difficult because of the checkerboard of private and federal minerals, undermining a source of income that some Navajo depend on.
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Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland kicked off a week-long visit to the Pacific Islands in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, where she highlighted the ongoing commitment to protecting and investing in the natural and cultural resources of the U.S. territory.
The Secretary and her delegation affirmed the unwavering commitment to supporting the people of the CNMI. The funding provided for Typhoon Mawar recovery support responds to the emergency declaration for the CNMI, which directed federal partners to support and supplement Commonwealth and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from Typhoon Mawar on May 22, 2023.
While on Saipan, Secretary Haaland toured the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation which has received funds from OIA for a number of projects, including a recent grant for a new imaging system in the operating room. She also visited natural and cultural resources across the island, including Bird Island and Kalabera Cave, which has also been a recipient of OIA funding support. She also honored American veterans by laying a wreath at the American Memorial Park Court of Honor.
The Interior Department has made another $5.5 million available to the U.S. territories, including the CNMI, to provide domestic water supplies to households that do not have potable water. To date, $115.8 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding has been provided across the administration to the CNMI.
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A brewing Supreme Court battle over a renewable energy law is raising questions about the regulatory power of federal agencies. The Edison Electric Institute and North Western Energy recently petitioned the Supreme Court to reverse a ruling that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission properly interpreted the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act — a law intended to increase renewable energy on the electric grid — to require a utility to purchase power from a Montana solar project he decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit hinges on a legal theory known as the Chevron doctrine, which says judges should generally defer to agencies' interpretation of ambiguous statutes — a legal theory that is being targeted in a separate Supreme Court case to be argued this fall.
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EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers have sent an amended version of the "waters of the United States" definition, typically referred to as WOTUS, to the Office of Management and Budget, which is now poised to review the changes. According to the White House's regulatory dashboard, the revision was sent even faster than many experts had anticipated.
Both agencies behind WOTUS pledged the rule would be set by September, underscoring just how quickly the administration intends to move on the issue. Neither agency has offered additional insight into the scope of the revisions since it was sent, although according to the White House dashboard, it is considered "pending review" and is not considered to be economically significant.
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The Environment and Natural Resources Division is hosting an upcoming training session for state government environmental law practitioners. Each training is virtual and free to attend!
Counsel for State and Local Affairs | Law and Policy Section | Environment and Natural Resources Division | U.S. Department of Justice
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Session 4: Best Practices for Community Outreach to Further Environmental Justice
Zoom Webinar
August 8, 2023, 2:00-3:00 PM Eastern Time
This presentation will take the form of a panel discussion. The panelists will discuss ways of planning for community outreach, providing meaningful opportunities for community input and information, and effectively using the information gained through community outreach to further the goals of enhancing equity in environmental enforcement.
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In re Delila D., --- Cal. Rptr. 3d ---, 2023 WL 4677720 (Ct. App. 4th Dist., June 21, 2023). Declining to follow its prior decision in In re Robert F. (2023) 90 Cal.App.5th 492 (Robert F.), the Court of Appeals concludes that the duty to inquire of extended family members whether a child in the temporary custody of the Department of Public Social Services is or may be an “Indian child” applies regardless of whether the child was taken into custody pursuant to a protective custody warrant.
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All summaries are posted in CWAG's google docs account, accessible through the link below. Should you have any issues with the links, contact Patricia Salazar at [email protected] with any questions.
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Conference of Western Attorneys General
5050 Laguna Blvd | Suite 112-323 | Elk Grove, California 95758
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