Brief Filed In Case To Protect Imperiled Mouse And Overturn Dangerous Endangered Species Act Policy

We have filed an opening brief on the merits in our case challenging the Bush Administration's decision to strip the Preble's Meadow Jumping Mouse of all Endangered Species Act protection in the Wyoming portion of its range (the subspecies remains protected in Colorado). The partial delisting decision was based on a controversial ESA policy adopted in 2007 and that, contrary to decades of prior practice, has been applied to limit the protection of not only the Preble's, but also wolves and other listed species. On behalf of the Colorado-based Center for Native Ecosystems and other conservation groups, we are seeking to restore full ESA protection for the Preble's, as well as invalidate the underlying policy limiting species protections. The case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. For a copy of our brief, click here.

Journal of Legal Education Publishes Roundtable on Animal Law

The November 2010 issue of the Journal of Legal Education focuses on the emerging area of animal law, featuring a roundtable with young practitioners including Jessica Almy, an associate at Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal.  The roundtable, available online, focuses on challenges to advancing the interests of animals and ways that law schools can help prepare students to become animal lawyers.

Eubanks Invited to Speak at Inaugural Appalachian Public Interest Environmental Law Conference

Bill Eubanks will be presenting at the 1st Annual Appalachian Public Interest Environmental Law Conference in Knoxville, Tennessee on Saturday, November 20, on a panel titled The Endangered Species Act: The Many Routes to Protecting Southeastern Species and Habitat through the ESA.  Eubanks will speak again on Sunday, November 21, on a panel titled Rulings from the High Court: What Remedies Are Available to Environmental Plaintiffs After Winter and Monsanto.  More information about the conference can be found here: https://sites.google.com/site/apielconference/.

West Virginia Northern Flying Squirrel: Litigation Update

The oral argument for the Flying Squirrel case is scheduled on Wednesday, 11/17/2010. On behalf of a coalition of environmental organizations, we had filed a suit in June 2010 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the Department of Interior and the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), challenging the removal of the West Virginia Northern Flying Squirrel from any protection of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and requesting the Court to reinstate the Squirrel’s “endangered species” listing. In brief, we primarily argue that the delisting decision is not based on objective measurable criteria or best available science, as required by the ESA.

All written briefs in the case are complete and the oral hearing is on 11/17/2010 at 10:00 A.M. in Courtroom 24A at the District of Columbia Federal District Courthouse before Judge Emmet G. Sullivan.

Eubanks Publishes Paper in Peer-Reviewed Climate Change Journal

Bill Eubanks recently published a paper on the devastating impacts of climate change in the peer-reviewed International Journal of Climate Change: Impacts and Responses.  The paper highlights the rapidly worsening effects of climate change on the northeastern United States by focusing on the quintessential species in the region -- the sugar maple.  The abstract can be found here:  http://ijc.cgpublisher.com/product/pub.185/prod.82.  The paper builds on an earlier article that was published by the Penn State Environmental Law Review, available here:  http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1286946.

Eubanks to Speak on BP Oil Spill at 18th Annual Animal Law Conference

Bill Eubanks will be presenting at the 18th Annual Animal Law Conference in Portland, Oregon on Saturday, October 16, on a panel titled, Dangerous Waters: Animals in the Wake of the Gulf Oil Spill.  Eubanks was the lead counsel for conservation and animal protection organizations in a recent lawsuit that forced BP and the Coast Guard to substantially alter their in-situ burn policies in order to ensure that endangered and threatened sea turtles would not be killed by the burns.  More information about the conference can be found here: http://www.lclark.edu/law/student_groups/student_animal_legal_defense_fund/animal_law_conference/

District Court Vacates Cypress Creek Town Center (CCTC) Permit

Following on a June 30, 2010 Opinion finding that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) violated the Clean Water Act in authorizing a massive shopping mall development in Southern Florida (see July 8, 2010 Posting), last week the district Court vacated the CCTC permit, preventing any further development of the mall. Although the Corps and the developer argued that the legal violations were not significant enough to warrant vacatur, the Court disagreed, concluding that “vacatur is appropriate in order to prevent significant harm resulting from keeping the agency’s decision in place.” The Court permitted the developer to continue operating a stormwater discharge system necessary in light of the wetlands destruction that has already occurred, and to complete a road already under construction on the site. A copy of the Court’s Opinion is attached.