Issues
California, activist groups appeal decision allowing border wall to move forward. This week, the state of California and several environmental groups filed an appeal to a district judge’s decision that President Trump’s border wall could be exempt from numerous environmental statutes. At the end of February, United States District Court for the Southern District of California found that waivers issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in late 2017 exempting portions of the border wall from several federal statutes, including the Endangered Species Act (ESA), were lawful. This is the decision California and the activist groups – the Defenders of Wildlife, the Sierra Club, the Animal Legal Defense Fund – are appealing in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
In the appeal, the groups argue that in issuing the waivers, the DHS exceeded its authority. Additionally, the groups argue that the waivers permit construction of the wall to take place without the lawful consideration of endangered species or certain aspects of the environment. In addition to the ESA, the statutes DHS’ waivers exempt include the National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act, and Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
Trump administration proposes removing protections for endangered bird. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) this week proposed removing federal protections for the Kirtland’s warbler, a small songbird currently listed as endangered under the ESA. A majority of the warblers, which have been protected since before the ESA was signed into law in 1973, are found in the jack pine forests in the northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan.
“Kirtland’s warblers were once on the brink of extinction and one of America’s rarest birds, but today they represent the power of partnership to recover imperiled wildlife,” said Tom Melius, Midwest regional director for FWS.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) applauded the proposal. “This decision recognizes over 50 years of dedication and commitment to Kirtland’s warbler conservation by many agencies, organizations, industries, and individuals in our state and beyond,” Michigan DNR director Keith Creagh said. “Together we have been able to benefit local economies while at the same time providing necessary nesting grounds for this species.”
In the News
Barrasso looks to change Endangered Species Act. Cody Enterprise. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and as a Republican within the majority, Barrasso is as well-positioned as anyone to oversee changes to the law that many hope will make it easier to delist species in the future. “There’s bipartisan interest,” Barrasso said. Interest, but not agreement on what components should be rewritten and until the committee reaches that point Barrasso said he won’t back submitting a bill to the floor of the Senate. One of the driving forces for rewriting is the economic impact built into endangered species protection. At a Washington, D.C. hearing last year, and again in Cody, Barrasso noted that 99.4 percent of the counties across the United States “are home to at least one species listed as endangered.” Needed projects cannot be started or completed and progress is held up, Barrasso said. Park County commissioner Loren Grosskopf, who was also attending the Outdoorsmen dinner, said “It isn’t just Wyoming.”
Montana ag network: Ranchers demand reform of Endangered Species Act. MTN News. Leaders in Montana’s ranching industry are in Washington, D.C., this week working on federal issues that are impacting their operations and way of life. They’re meeting with other livestock producers from across the nation as part of the Public Lands Council (PLC) and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Spring Legislative Conference. Vicki Olson, a Malta rancher, is also the current chairwoman of the Montana Public Lands Council. A big issue for her and other public lands ranchers is wild horse management and a recent request by Friends for Animals, an animal-rights organization. The group has asked the federal government to list feral horses in Montana as an endangered species, which would give them protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). “Yes, and it has really hit the media hard again. It really bothers me that the animal-rights organization Animals First believes that wild horses belong on the Endangered Species List,” said Olson.
Rare butterfly recommended for endangered species list. Skagit Valley Herald. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has proposed listing the island marble butterfly, which is found only on San Juan Island, as an endangered species. Since a state biologist discovered the butterfly fluttering across a field on San Juan Island in 1998, several efforts have been made to protect it and prevent the species from disappearing. Despite two decades of work, the species has declined, according to a news release. Fewer than 200 adult butterflies were counted during a survey in 2017. Fish & Wildlife proposes listing the island marble butterfly as an endangered species in order to secure additional protections under the federal Endangered Species Act, and designating 813 acres on San Juan Island as critical habitat for the species. About 90 percent of that habitat is on federal land in the American Camp portion of the San Juan Island National Historical Park.
Alabama auto plant could wipe out endangered fish, group says. Birmingham News. An environmental group plans to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for not taking steps to protect an endangered species of fish that lives near the planned site of the Toyota-Mazda manufacturing plant in Limestone County. The Center for Biological Diversity filed a formal notice of intent to sue the FWS for not designating critical habitat for the spring pygmy sunfish, which is known to survive in just one spring complex in Limestone County. That spring complex is near the planned site for the auto manufacturing plant expected to eventually produce 300,000 automobiles a year and employ 4,000 people. The group says the new plant will mean extensive new development, including roads, buildings and parking lots throughout the watershed, and that by not designating any critical habitat, the FWS has neglected its legal responsibility to ensure the development does not harm the spring pygmy sunfish.
