Alaska Oil & Gas Association v. National Marine Fisheries Service

The federal district court for the District of Alaska struck down the listing of the Arctic subspecies of ringed seal as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The court said that the listing was not reasonable because the subspecies population was currently strong and healthy and the listing was grounded primarily in “speculation as to what circumstances may or may not exist 80 to 100 years from now.” The court said that the National Marine Fisheries Service had acknowledged that it lacked reliable data regarding the impacts of loss of sea-ice due to climate change in that extended timeframe.