Environmentalists Challenge Botched Wildlife Review of Offshore Wind Power Project

On behalf of a coalition of nine individuals and environmental organizations, we filed a lawsuit last week in federal district court alleging that the Minerals Management Service and other officials in the U.S. Department of Interior violated wildlife and environmental laws in granting Cape Wind Associates permission to build 130 wind turbines in federal waters off the Massachusetts coast. Our complaint argues that allowing the project to go forward without further review under the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act risks grave harm to Roseate Terns, Piping Plovers, other migratory birds, and the critically imperiled North Atlantic Right Whale.

Bill Eubanks To Speak At Annual Meeting of the National Conference of Regulatory Attorneys, June 23, 2010

William Eubanks will be speaking at the 33rd Annual Meeting of the National Conference of Regulatory Attorneys on Wednesday, June 23 at 11:00 a.m. at the Embassy Suites in Charleston, West Virginia.  The focus of the discussion will be the recent decision in Animal Welfare Institute v. Beech Ridge Energy, 675 F. Supp.2d 540 (D. Md. 2009), where a federal judge enjoined the majority of construction and operation of an industrial wind energy facility under the Endangered Species Act because such activities, in the absence of an incidental take permit, would unlawfully kill and injure federally endangered Indiana bats.

Summary Judgment Brief Filed in Challenge to Flying Squirrel’s Delisting

On behalf of Friends of Blackwater, the Center for Biological Diversity, and others, we recently filed for summary judgment in a suit challenging the decision of the Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the West Virginia Northern Flying Squirrel from the protections of the Endangered Species Act.  The Service had delisted the Squirrel despite the fact that the agency had not satisfied the requirements of its own formal recovery plan for the subspecies.  Our brief seeks to reinstate protections for the imperiled Squirrel.

Meyer To Speak At DC Animal Law Night, June 3, 2010

Katherine Meyer will be speaking on a panel for the DC Animal Law Night, June 3, 2010, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m., George Washington University Law School, Faculty Conference Center, 5th Floor, 716 20th Street, N.W. Also on the panel are Lisa LaFontaine, President and Chief Executive Officer, Washington Humane Society; Cheryl Leahy, General Counsel, Compassion Over Killing; and Bernard Unti, Senior Policy Adviser and Special Assistant to the President, The Humane Society of the U.S. The panel will discuss various animal law topics with a focus on local D.C. issues. The event is free to the public.