Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) reached a settlement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) pursuant to which FWS agreed to review the status of the Arkansas mudalia (a freshwater snail) by July 19, 2024 and make a finding as to whether listing the species as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act is not warranted, warranted, or warranted but precluded by other pending proposals. The defendants agreed to pay CBD $30,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs. The settlement resolved a lawsuit challenging FWS’s April 2019 conclusion that listing was not warranted. CBD alleged that FWS had not rationally addressed factors expected to negatively impact the snail’s future viability, including climate change-driven drought and storms.

Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) filed a lawsuit in federal district court in the District of Columbia challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision not to list the Arkansas mudalia, a freshwater snail, under the Endangered Species Act. The complaint alleged that the Arkansas mudalia “has been extirpated from 90% of its historic range and remaining populations face a myriad of ongoing and worsening threats to their survival, including climate change-driven impacts to its habitat suitability.” CBD asserted that the FWS did not rationally address factors expected to negatively impact the species’ future viability, including climate change-driven drought and storms. CBD alleged that the listing decision was based on “unsupported conclusions,” including an alleged finding that “climate change is unlikely to affect future viability of the Arkansas mudalia because its habitat is medium-to-large rivers.”