E & E News, April 1, 2014
By Phil Taylor
A federal court in Washington, D.C., today upheld a pair of sweeping 2011 settlements between the Obama administration and environmental groups over the streamlining of endangered species decisions, concluding that a homebuilders coalition lacked standing to challenge them.
It marked the fourth time in a row federal courts have determined groups have no basis for challenging the legal agreement signed with WildEarth Guardians and the Center for Biological Diversity.
The settlements set deadlines for the Fish and Wildlife Service to issue final Endangered Species Act listing decisions for more than 250 candidate species by the end of September 2016. Candidate species are those the service has found deserving of an ESA listing, but for whom federal protections were deferred due to a lack of resources. Read more