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.

Environmental organizations' challenge to biological opinion and Clean Water Act Section 404 permit for mixed-use residential and commercial development in Collier County, Florida.

Center for Biological Diversity v. Nesvik

<p>This entry was provided by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.</p>

Lawsuit Filed in Florida Federal Court Said Federal Defendants Failed to Adequately Consider Effects on Endangered Florida Panther

Filed

The Climate Litigation Database

Find climate change litigation data and indicators for {text}.

{text} litigation

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law provides Climate Litigation Database, a comprehensive database of US and Global climate change caselaw

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of climate change law and policy documents from every country.

Search the Climate Litigation Database

An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Zoning and spatial planning are both methods for guiding the distribution of people and activities in a space, and are regulatory restriction.

A ban is a legal action that prevents the sale or supply of a product or service, or that recalls a product from the market. Examples are bans on SF6, greenwashing, fossil fuel advertisement or single-use plastics.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Actions or measures to adapt terrestrial systems to climate change.

Risks to the ecosystem health of the marine environment, including ocean warming, ocean acidification, and ocean deoxygenation, harming biodiversity, species health, ecosystem services, and coastal community livelihoods.

Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

Terrestrial means "of the earth" and relates to the risks to ecological system that includes all living organisms and their interactions within land-based environments, such as forests, grasslands, and deserts.

Social inclusion is the process of improving the terms on which individuals and groups take part in society—improving the ability, opportunity, and dignity of those disadvantaged on the basis of their identity.

People with different national or cultural traditions from the dominant population

Social and cultural groups that share collective ancestral ties to the lands and natural resources where they live, occupy or from which they have been displaced

woman and genders outside of the gender binary

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

This sector involves activities that impart knowledge and skills to individuals, including formal schooling, vocational training and educational support.

Activities involving the catching, processing, and selling of fish for food, recreation, and industry.

Slow onset events evolve gradually from incremental changes over many years or from increased frequency or intensity of recurring events. As defined in the Cancun Adaptation Framework (2010), slow onset events include risks and impacts from rising temperatures, desertification, biodiversity loss, land and forest degradation, glacial retreat, ocean acidification, sea level rise, and salinization.

Lawsuit Filed in Florida Federal Court Said Federal Defendants Failed to Adequately Consider Effects on Endangered Florida Panther

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Just transition

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance