News & Updates
Conference of Western Attorneys General
July 19, 2023
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ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT (ESA) |
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A flowering plant native to southwestern British Columbia, western Washington State, and western Oregon, the golden paintbrush was listed as threatened in 1997. Since then, it has rebounded so admirably that the Fish and Wildlife Service has made the final ESA delisting proposed in 2021.
Now, the distribution and abundance of the short-lived perennial herb have “increased significantly” due to seeding and planting efforts. The agency estimated there were approximately 11,500 flowering plants in 2011. That jumped to more than 560,000 flowering plants in 2018, falling to 325,320 in 2019. Federal and state agencies reported spending about $317,000 on golden paintbrush recovery efforts in fiscal 2020 and $568,000 in fiscal 2019, according to the most recent Fish and Wildlife Service reports to Congress.
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The border wall stopped construction before it was finished — but not before critics of the wall, claimed damage was inflicted on the local ecology. Now a legal settlement is a boon for wildlife at the southern border.
The settlement, finalized in federal court for the Northern District of California, ended four lawsuits filed against the prior administration by a coalition of attorneys general from 18 states, including the California Attorney General.
The lawsuits alleged the administration misappropriated taxpayer funds earmarked for other purposes to pay for the construction of the southern border wall. According to the settlement terms, the money will now go to various environmental remediation efforts and a handful of military construction projects.
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Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador led eight states and authored a letter to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) opposing its proposed "Conservation and Landscape Health" rule. The new rule proposed by the Bureau of Land Management allegedly enhances provisions for the agency to "protect intact landscapes, restore degraded habitat, and make wise management decisions based on science and data." The new rule would allow the agency to lease land for "conservation use."
The State of Idaho, along with Arkansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Utah, South Carolina, and South Dakota, demand an immediate withdrawal of this rule. The State of Alaska sent a separate letter opposing this rule. Idaho is also a party to this letter.
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U.S. Bureau of Land Management is offering a $1,000 incentive for adopting wild animals. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management brought wild horses and burros for their adoption incentive program at the center. This is in an effort to help balance the ecosystem in the western part of the country.
In order to adopt these wild animals, specific requirements must be met before being considered to take. People who are interested must have an excellent corral to keep them in, a minimum of a six-foot-tall corral for an adult horse, five feet for yearling horses, and four and a half feet for a burrow. The animals must also always have access to a shelter, food and water.
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State water authorities have filed a lawsuit against Big Basin Water Co. in an escalation of their efforts to bring the local water provider into compliance with regional standards.
The lawsuit, filed last week by California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office on behalf of the State Water Resource Control Board Division of Drinking Water, aims to have a court-appointed authority, or receiver, assume managerial responsibility for the company to bring it back into compliance.
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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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Greenville Rancheria v. Martin, --- Cal. Rptr. 3d ---, 2023 WL 4483434 (July 12, 2023).State court did not lack subject matter jurisdiction to address complaint filed by tribal council seeking to enjoin ousted chairman and others from entering tribal fee property since the complaint did not require resolution of an ongoing internal tribal leadership dispute and did not adjudicate issues regarding ownership or possession of trust property.
Turpen v. Muckleshoot Tribal Court, 2023 WL 4492250 (W.D. Wash., July 12, 2023).Muckleshoot Tribal Court had jurisdiction to dissolve marriage between Muckleshoot member and non-Indian Plaintiff where Plaintiff entered into a consensual marriage with a tribal member, lived and worked on the Tribe's reservation, and consented to numerous contracts directly with the Tribe to help with housing payments.
U.S. v. Kills Warrior, 2023 WL 4541115 (D.S.D., July 14, 2023). The fact that a tribe’s judicial system was founded in the provisions of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 was irrelevant to the determination of whether convictions by tribal and federal courts for the same conduct by a tribal member violated the constitutional prohibition on double jeopardy.
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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 psalazar@agalliance.org 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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