Court Vacates Trump Administration’s ESA Rules

On July 5, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued an order vacating and remanding three sets of regulations (“2019 Regulations”) implementing sections 4 and 7 of the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”). The consolidated case is Center for Biological Diversity v. Haaland, Case No. 4:19-cv-06013 (N.D. Cal.).

In 2019, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (collectively, “Services”) promulgated two sets of regulations modifying (1) how they add, remove, and reclassify endangered or threatened species and the criteria for designating listed species’ critical habitat; and (2) their procedures for interagency consultation. Additionally, FWS repealed its blanket 4(d) rule which automatically extended to threatened species protections against “take” that ESA section 9 affords to all endangered species.

Although the Services requested that the district court remand the 2019 Regulations without vacatur, plaintiffs sought remand with vacatur. Following a pattern of recent decisions by district courts within the Ninth Circuit, the district court concluded that it has the authority to vacate and remand the 2019 Regulations without having to rule on the merits of plaintiffs’ challenges. Applying the Allied-Signal factors for vacatur, the court concluded that the Services errors in promulgating the 2019 Regulations were serious and that their vacatur would not cause any serious and irremediable harm. Accordingly, the district court vacated the 2019 Regulations.

The district court’s order is available here.

If you have any questions about the court’s decision and its implications, please contact Jared Wigginton at jared@goodstewardlegal.com.