California Natural Resources Agency v. Ross

The federal district court for the Eastern District of California granted federal defendants’ motion for voluntary remand without vacatur in two cases challenging biological opinions issued regarding two major water diversion projects in California, the Central Valley and State Water Projects. The court also imposed an interim operations plan through the end of the 2022 water year in September 2022 while the federal defendants conduct a re-initiated consultation process. The court denied the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations’ request for alternative injunctive relief that would impose a different set of interim measures. The cases—which are stayed through the end of September 2022—involve alleged violations of the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act, including allegations that the analysis supporting the conclusions that the projects were not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of threatened and endangered fish species or to destroy or adversely modify their critical habitat did not adequately consider climate change impacts.