Center for Biological Diversity v. Haaland

The federal district court for the Southern District of Florida vacated the National Park Service’s agreement with Miami-Dade County to release certain land-use restrictions to facilitate development of a waterpark, hotel, and retail complex. The federal defendants did not dispute that they violated NEPA and the Endangered Species Act by failing to undertake environmental review and consultation before entering into the agreement. Plaintiffs alleged that the project threatened the pine rocklands, which were threatened by factors that included climate change and sea level rise. The court found that the facts warranted vacatur of the agreement.

Center for Biological Diversity and three other conservation organizations filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the Southern District of Florida challenging the National Park Service’s release of land-use restrictions to facilitate the development of a proposed waterpark, hotel, and retail development in Miami-Dade County. The organizations alleged that the project threatened survival and recovery of endangered species and “globally critically endangered pine rocklands,” which “have been reduced to only three percent of their historic range and continue to be critically endangered by urban and agricultural development, climate change, and sea level rise.” The complaint asserted that the National Park Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act.