Challenge To USDA’s Decision To Renew License to Miami Seaquarium Where Orca Named Lolita Is Kept in Substandard Conditions

On behalf of the Animal Legal Defense Fund, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Orca Network, and several individuals, we filed a case last week in the federal district court for Northern California challenging the USDA’s most recent decision to allow the Miami Seaquarium to renew its Animal Welfare license although it keeps the Orca named Lolita in conditions that violate the AWA – including a tank that is far below the agency’s own minimum standard set in 1978, without shelter from the intense Miami sun, and without any companions of her own species.  Lolita was captured from the wild in the 1970s off the coast of Washington State and is a member of the L-pod of the Southern Resident Killer Whales –  listed as an “endangered” species in 2005.  The suit seeks to have the Seaquarium’s AWA license set aside as unlawful, as a first step to having Lolita transferred to a more humane setting, and hopefully reintroduced into the wild.

Lawsuit Filed To Restore Protections To Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy Owl

This week, we filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife, which seeks to reinstate Endangered Species Act protections for the pygmy owl – a species that was previously listed as endangered under the Act from 1997 to 2006.  In 2011, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found, in response to a petition by the conservation groups, that the pygmy owl is in fact threatened in its Sonoran Desert region but nevertheless declined to afford any protections to the species based on the agency’s conclusion that this portion of the range is not vital to the overall survival of the species – a far more restrictive interpretation of the agency’s statutory listing authority than the Service has previously employed.  This new interpretation stems from a draft policy that the Service released for public comment several months after the pygmy owl decision, that was strenuously opposed by conservation groups and the scientific community, and that the Service has yet to finalize. The complaint can be found here and the press release can be found here.

D.C. Circuit Rules For Public Health And Against Tobacco Companies

In the latest step to hold the major tobacco companies accountable for decades of fraud on the American people, today the D.C. Circuit affirmed two lower court rulings in a long-running lawsuit the United States has pursued against the companies for more than a decade.  In this round, the companies argued that the district court’s findings and remedies in connection with their 50-years of fraud should be set aside in light of the 2009 legislation which gave the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate cigarettes.  Rejecting all of the defendants’ arguments, the D.C. Circuit ruled that the district court’s overwhelming findings of fraud supported the conclusion that misconduct will continue despite the new law.  The Court also rejected the companies’ effort to restrict the tobacco marketing data that the Department of Justice may review to monitor the companies’ compliance with the Court’s ruling.  We represent six public health organizations, including the American Cancer Society and Tobacco-Free Kids, who intervened in the suit to advocate for strong and effective remedies, and participated in both of the appeals resolved today.  The two opinions are available here.

Emergency Petition Submitted To USFS To Maintain Burnt Mountain's Roadlessness

Yesterday, on behalf of The Ark Initiative, we submitted an emergency petition to the U.S. Forest Service requesting that the agency revisit an erroneous roadless determination on Burnt Mountain near the Maroon Bells - Snowmass Wilderness Area in Colorado.  The practical effect of this error is that a private company, which has received authorization from the Service to conduct tree cutting and other irreversible activities in this parcel based on the error, plans to imminently begin felling trees and thus permanently destroy the roadless characteristics and wilderness qualities of this unique parcel of public land.  We have requested a response from the Service by the end of the week.  The petition can be found here.  

Court Rejects NPS's Attempt To Open Destructive ORV Trails In Big Cypress

Yesterday, a federal district court ruled that the National Park Service ("NPS") and Fish and Wildlife Service violated several environmental laws (NEPA, ESA, and the Park Service Organic Act, among others) when NPS opened sensitive areas of the Bear Island Unit of the Big Cypress National Preserve to off-road vehicle use that the same agency had expressly forbidden seven years earlier.  Because the agencies provided no coherent explanation for changing their course of action to allow ORV use in these areas, which the agencies anticipated would adversely affect water, vegetation, and federally protected wildlife, the court set aside the decision and thus closed all of these trails to ORV use within 14 days.  The decision can be found here.

Lawsuit Filed To Protect Grand Staircase Escalate National Monument

On behalf of Western Watershed Project, we filed a lawsuit in federal district court in D.C. on Friday challenging the failure of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to protect resources in the spectacular Grand Staircase Escalate National Monument in southern Utah.  Public lands grazing is seriously degrading portions of the Monument.  Although six years ago BLM identified specific actions that must be taken to address this problem, these actions have never occurred.  Through the lawsuit plaintiffs seek a Court Order directing that BLM finally carry out these specific actions.  A copy of the Complaint is here.

Federal Agencies Sued Over Failure to Disclose Correspondence with Wind Industry

On behalf of the American Bird Conservancy (ABC), we sued the Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs for failure to comply with mandatory deadlines under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

ABC filed six requests under FOIA – all of them more than eight months ago. ABC’s FOIA requests asked for the Fish and Wildlife Service’s correspondence with wind developers regarding birds and bats, as well as related information about wildlife impacts, such as studies showing which bird and bat species were in the area and how many had been killed by the facilities. The Fish and Wildlife Service subsequently referred one request to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Under FOIA’s strict deadlines, the agencies were required to fulfill the requests or claim exemptions within 20 working days, and hence ABC has a right to seek judicial intervention.  The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

ABC’s FOIA requests were in regard to proposed and existing wind energy developments in Arizona, California, Florida, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Texas. Birds that could potentially be harmed include Bald and Golden Eagles, as well as birds that have been federally designated as threatened and endangered, such as Whooping Cranes, Northern Aplomado Falcons, Least Terns, Piping Plovers, Marbled Murrelets, Snail Kites, Wood Storks, and Northern Crested Caracaras.