On May 20, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) published a final rule listing the dunes sagebrush lizard (DSL) as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). The DSL is a small, spiny lizard...more
On April 5, 2024, The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (“USFWS”) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (“NMFS”) (collectively, the “Services”) finalized a series of rules reversing certain revisions to the Services’...more
On February 12, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“USFWS” or “Service”) issued a long-awaited final rule revising its eagle permit program under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 668-668d) (“BGEPA”)....more
On July 3, 2023, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“the Service”) proposed to list the dunes sagebrush lizard (Sceloporus arenicolus) (“DSL”), a species found only in southeastern New Mexico and west Texas, as an endangered...more
On June 16, 2023, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled unanimously that the National Marine Fisheries Service (“NMFS”), when faced with insufficient data, cannot rely on...more
On November 25, 2022, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (the “Service”) published a final rule listing two Distinct Population Segments (“DPSs”) for the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus, “LEPC”) under the...more
On September 14, 2022, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (the “Service”) published a proposed rule to list the tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus, “TCB”) as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”). This action,...more
In today’s Federal Register, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“USFWS”) published a proposed rule under the federal Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) to reclassify the northern long-eared bat (“NLEB”) from “threatened” status...more
On May 24, 2021, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) released a proposed rule to list two distinct population segments (DPS) of the lesser prairie chicken (LEPC) under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). If the listing...more
On May 7, 2021, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“USFWS” or “Service”) published a proposed rule that would restore the traditional interpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (“MBTA”) as prohibiting incidental take...more
The Migratory Bird Treaty Act (“MBTA”) was first adopted in 1918, and for most of its existence the Department of the Interior (“DOI”) interpreted it to prohibit any taking or killing of migratory birds, intentional or not. ...more
In a hotly anticipated ruling on May 11, the federal district court that just a few weeks ago stunned and stalled a wide range of industries by vacating the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (“Corps”) Nationwide Permit (“NWP”)...more
On January 28, the D.C. District Court issued a significant decision in litigation brought by a group of environmental organizations challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (“FWS”) 2015 listing of the northern...more
On December 22, 2017 the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (“DOI”) Office of the Solicitor issued Memorandum M-370501 (the “M-Opinion”) interpreting the take prohibition of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act2 (“MBTA”) to apply...more
On December 16, 2016 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) published a final rule (Final Rule) revising its 2009 regulations establishing requirements for issuance of permits for “non-purposeful take” of bald and...more
On December 15, 2016, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (“USFWS” or “Service”) published a proposed rule (the “Proposed Rule”) to remove the black-capped vireo (“BCV”) from the list of endangered and threatened species under...more
On September 22, 2016 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) published a proposed rule to list the rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) as “endangered” under the federal Endangered Species Act (the ESA). If...more
On May 6, 2016 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) published a proposed rule (the Proposed Rule) to revise its 2009 rule establishing the requirements for issuance of permits for “non-purposeful take” of bald and...more
Last fall a federal court in the Western District of Texas upheld a challenge to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s (Service) decision to list the lesser prairie chicken (LEPC) as a threatened species under the federal...more
On January 13, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) released its Final 4(d) Rule for the Northern Long-Eared Bat (Final Rule). The Final Rule greatly expands upon the scope of the interim 4(d) rule that the Service...more
On September 4, 2015, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the misdemeanor convictions of Citgo Petroleum Corporation and Citgo Refining and Chemicals Company, L.P. (collectively Citgo) for “taking” migratory birds in...more
9/16/2015
/ Appeals ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Energy Projects ,
Energy Sector ,
Incidental Take Permits ,
Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Renewable Energy ,
Reversal ,
Strict Liability ,
Takings Clause ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service
Last week, in a decision that surprised many, a federal court in Texas overturned the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s (Service) decision last year to list the lesser prairie chicken (LEPC) as “threatened” under the federal...more