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

The Center for Biological Diversity and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) entered into settlement agreements to resolve claims that the FWS violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to complete listing determinations or to designate critical habitat for listed species. The species addressed in the litigation and in the settlements included species that the Center for Biological Diversity alleged were threatened by climate change, including the monarch butterfly and the San Francisco Bay-Delta population of the longfin smelt. The settlements provided for the dismissal with prejudice of claims with respect to species for which the FWS had taken action since the lawsuits were filed. For other species, the settlements set deadlines for 12-month findings on the listings of species or proposed determinations concerning critical habitat.

Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in federal district court in the District of Columbia requesting that the court order the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to publish proposed rules to list 10 species as endangered or threatened. The FWS previously determined that listing of each species was “warranted but precluded.” For two of the species, the plaintiff’s allegations include that climate change is one of the factors imperiling the species.