Endangered Species Act: 2014 and Beyond Wayne D Angelo Kelley Drye & Warren, LLP Washington, D.C.
Endangered Species Act (16 USC 1531 et seq. (1973)) Statute for the protection of threatened and endangered species FWS and NOAA Section 4 - listing Section 9 - Prohibits take of listed species Harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, collect Criminal and civil penalties Section 7 requires consultation for federal actions that can result in take Requires designation of critical habitat Requires recovery plans
Section 7 Consultation When federal action may jeopardized continued existence of endangered or threatened species or destroy/adversely modify critical habitat When action may affect acting Agency (BOEM) consults with listing agency (NMFS, FWS) Beneficial effects too Biological Opinion: Can include Incidental take Reasonable and Prudent Alternatives Reasonable and Prudent Measures Time, money, restricted access, exclusions, litigation
ESA: Proxy for Anti-Development Agenda Both environmentalist groups and development interests wage legal wars over the listing and delisting of species as a proxy for fights over policy and regulatory development. Jonathan Adler in Rebuilding the Ark: New Perspectives on Endangered Species Act Reform
engo Proxy War: It s Not About the Species Northern Spotted Owl ultimate goal [of the litigation was] to delay the harvest of old growth forests so as to give Congress a chance to provide statutory protections for those forests Andy Stahl, Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund Climate Change Attorney Brendan Cummings, ocean program director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said that without a national legal mechanism for regulating greenhouse gases, his organization has turned to the Endangered Species Act. ENDANGERED SPECIES: Petition to Protect Seals From Melting Ice, Greenwire, Dec. 21, 2007
ESA Petitioning and Anti-Development Policy Goal Section 4 Listing by protected species office in NMFS/FWS or through petitioning All listing activity is now in response to petitions Two ways engos misuse the listing process Petitioning for actions in areas where industry operates/proposes to operate Serial petitioning to purposely overwhelm the listing process
engo Petitions Directed at O&G List Sperm Whale DPS in GoM Was already listed as endangered worldwide Why? Smaller population from which to measure impacts List Dusky Shark in Atlantic/GoM Why? Not a DPS, not endangered or threatened Designate Critical Habitat for Loggerhead Turtle DPS in Atlantic/GoM Why? Sargassum habitat would be largest in ESA history List 66 Species of Coral Why? Proxy for climate change battle List Caribbean Electric Ray Atlantic/GoM Why? Because it is in the Atlantic/GoM
ESA Misuse: Serial Petitioning/Litigation WEG Recently petitioned to list 81 separate species very few of which occur in US waters. Why? Overwhelm the system, and sue when it breaks ESA allows 12 months to determine if petition is warranted If NMFS fails to meet 12-month deadline, engos bring suit Easy win for engos nearly 100% successful Win legal fees Also win the listing agenda CBD/WEG already did this onshore Hundreds of petitions, dozens of lawsuits, Essentially all appropriations went to litigation and CBD/WEG legal fees Settled in 2011. FWS hundreds of listing decision chosen by CBD/WEG
ESA: What Next? Sue and Settle is moving offshore 2011 Settlement between FWS and WEG/CBD limits suits against FWS not NMFS It worked great onshore WEG is already filing 81-species mega-petitions with NMFS Why wouldn t the engo s repeat this? More Petitions to List/Designate CH Wherever Industry Operates or Hopes to Operate
Threatened or Endangered Species in Alaska Green turtle (Chelonia mydas): Threatened Loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta): Endangered (North Pacific Ocean DPS) Olive Ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea): Threatened Leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea): Endangered Pacific euchalon/smelt (Thaleichthys pacificus): Threatened Eskimo curlew (Numenius borealis): Endangered Short-tailed albatross (Phoebastria albatrus): Endangered Spectacled eider (Somateria fischeri): Threatened, CH Steller s eider (Polysticta stelleri): Threatened (Alaska breeding population), CH Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus): Endangered (Western DPS), CH; Threatened (Eastern DPS), CH Polar bear (Ursus maritimus): Threatened Northern sea otter (Enhydra lutris kenyoni): Threatened (Southwest Alaska DPS), CH Bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus): Endangered North Pacific right whale (Eubalaena japonica): Endangered, CH Sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis): Endangered Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus): Endangered Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus): Endangered Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae): Endangered Killer whale (Orcinus orca): Endangered (Southern Resident DPS) Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas): Endangered (Cook Inlet DPS), CH Sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus): Endangered
Threatened or Endangered Species in the Gulf of Mexico Staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis): Threatened, CH Elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata): Threatened, CH American crocodile (Crocodylus acutu): Threatened Green turtle (Chelonia mydas): Endangered (Florida Coast Breeding Populations) Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata): Endangered Loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta): Threatened Kemp s ridley turtle (Lepidochelys kempii): Endangered Leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea): Endangered Smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata) Endangered, CH Largetooth sawfish (Pristis perotteti) Endangered Shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevrostrum) Endangered Gulf sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus Desotoi): Threatened, CH Wood stork (Mycteria americana) Endangered Whooping crane (Grus americana) Endangered Mississippi sandhill crane (Grus canadensis pulla) Endangered Piping plover (Charadrius melodus) Threatened Roseate tern (Sterna dougallii dougallii): Threatened West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus): Endangered Sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis): Endangered Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus): Endangered Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus): Endangered Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae): Endangered Sperm whale (Physeter catodon): Endangered
Threatened or Endangered Species in the Southeast Atlantic Johnson's seagrass (Halophila johnsonii): Threatened, CH Staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis): Threatened, CH Elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata): Threatened, CH American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus): Threatened Green turtle (Chelonia mydas): Endangered (Florida Coast Breeding Populations) Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata): Endangered Loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta): Threatened Kemp s ridley turtle (Lepidochelys kempii): Endangered Leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea): Endangered Smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata): Endangered, CH Largetooth sawfish (Pristis perotteti): Endangered Shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevrostrum): Endangered Gulf sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi): Threatened, CH Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus): Endangered Wood stork (Mycteria americana): Endangered Piping plover (Charadrius melodus): Threatened Roseate tern (Sterna dougallii dougallii): Threatened West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus): Endangered North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis): Endangered, CH Sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis): Endangered Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus): Endangered Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus): Endangered