Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the District of Columbia challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s determination in March 2022 that the Rio Grande cooter—a turtle that lives in portions of New Mexico, Texas, and northern Mexico—did not warrant listing as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The complaint alleged that “[l]ong-term aridification and other extreme weather events driven by climate change threaten the turtle at all stages of its life.” The complaint asserted that FWS acted arbitrarily and capriciously, including by “failing to address the only study specifically modeling climate change impacts on the turtle’s habitat, and failing to rationally explain its decision to exclude the impact of climate change on the feminization of turtle eggs.” The complaint alleged that the study predicted loss of 76% to 90% of the turtle’s present suitable habitat by 2050 in scenarios based on a moderate or severe increase in greenhouse gas emissions. The complaint alleged that instead of considering this study, FWS “relied on broad, generalized geographical projections.”