Center for Biological Diversity v. Nesvik

Three environmental organizations filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the Middle District of Florida against federal defendants. The plaintiffs challenged a 2025 biological opinion and a Clean Water Act Section 404 permit issued in reliance on the biological opinion for a mixed-use residential and commercial development consisting of approximately 10,264.63 acres in Collier County, Florida (Project). The plaintiffs alleged that the project would destroy 5,000 acres of habitat for the endangered Florida panther. They contended that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS’s) determination that the project would not jeopardize the continued existence of the panther failed to acknowledge was the panther “almost certainly faces jeopardy even without the Project” and also “failed meaningfully to analyze the additive impacts of the action to the panther’s survival and recovery prospects in that context.” Among other things, the complaint alleged that the FWS acknowledged that cumulative effects of climate change such as sea level rise and severe storms could further reduce suitable panther habitat but that the FWS failed to mention climate change in its jeopardy analysis. The plaintiffs asked the court to declare that the federal defendants violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Administrative Procedure Act, to set aside the biological opinion and Section 404 permit and remand the biological opinion for reinitiation of consultation under the ESA, and to enjoin the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from approving or taking any action pursuant to a Section 404 permit.