Center for Biological Diversity v. Haaland

Conservation groups and federal defendants agreed to a settlement in the groups’ lawsuit seeking to compel the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to designate critical habitat for the Florida bonneted bat, which the groups alleged faces extinction due to rising sea levels and other factors. The FWS agreed to a schedule for submitting a revised proposed determination for critical habitation designation (either November 15, 2022 or March 15, 2023, depending on whether the action is determined to be “significant” for purposes of interagency review). The settlement would require a final designation to follow the proposed designation within one year (or one year plus 120 days if determined to be a significant action).

Center for Biological Diversity and two other organizations filed a lawsuit to compel the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to designate critical habitat for the endangered Florida bonneted bat. The plaintiffs alleged that the FWS had consistently failed to fulfill its statutory duty to designate critical habitat in accordance with statutory deadlines since the bat’s listing under the Endangered Species Act in 2013. The complaint alleged that the bat lives only in Florida and that it faces extinction “primarily from habitat destruction and degradation caused by urban sprawl and rising seas driven by global climate change.”