Alaska v. National Marine Fisheries Service

In an unpublished memorandum, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s rejection of the State of Alaska’s lawsuit challenging the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS’s) negative 90-day finding on a petition to delist the Arctic ringed seal as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The Ninth Circuit concluded that NMFS “reasonably determined” that the petition did not present new information that indicated delisting was warranted. First, the Ninth Circuit found that NMFS reasonably determined that new climate change projections were consistent with those considered at the time of the 2012 listing decision; that NMFS had a “reasonable and scientifically supported methodology for addressing volatility in its long-term climate projections”; and that it was not arbitrary and capricious for NMFS to conclude that the lowest emissions scenario was unrealistic. Second, the Ninth Circuit found that it was reasonable to decline to rely on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 12-month findings about the Pacific walrus. Third, the court found that NMFS did not improperly disregard new information in the delisting petition about the Arctic ringed seal’s response to sea ice loss and other climate-related changes.