In the latest in a series of wins for property rights, so-called environmentalists at the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) have failed to petition the Supreme Court to rule on the case, CBD v. Haaland. This is a final victory for Mountain States and its clients!
In January 2023, a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of reason and the interests of Mountain States Legal Foundation’s clients when it said that the federal courts have no jurisdiction to entertain the CBD’s demands that the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) change its Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan to include more territory. The Court firmly held that the “decision not to amend the Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan, like adoption of the Plan itself,” is not reviewable by the court.
This case centers around the FWS designation of specific areas to focus on recovery of grizzly bear populations. Back in the early 1990s, the FWS developed a recovery plan for the bear, which had been placed on the endangered species list. A recovery plan is like a roadmap for how the FWS will engage in species recovery. Recovery plans are not binding and can be amended as the FWS deems necessary.
CBD’s ultimate goal was to gain the ability to ask for changes to the recovery plan and then sue when the changes weren’t made, forcing agencies like the FWS to waste taxpayers’ time and money re-defending every aspect of a recovery plan that is not even binding. A related goal was to bring more land under stringent federal (and, in its eyes, CBD’s) control, to the detriment on the Americans who use those lands. The result could have been unending years of countless lawsuits, placing regulatory decision-making in the hands of so-called environmentalist activists.
In May 2023, unsatisfied with the court’s ruling, the activists requested an en banc proceeding by the Ninth Circuit. That is, instead of the three-judge panel that ruled against them, CBD wanted the entire appellate court to hear the case. We fought against that effort, and the court declined to reconsider the panel’s decision, which was yet another win for Mountain States.
Finally, in late August 2023, the activists have chosen not to file a petition to the Supreme Court of the United States to hear the case. Their failure to meet the deadline can mean only one thing: they’ve given up, and our clients are victorious!
Mountain States’ direct involvement in this case has kept recovery plans flexible, and defended them against unwarranted litigation from organizations like CBD. Perhaps more importantly, we kept large swaths of land out of CBD’s unwarranted attempts at regulatory control. Our attorneys worked diligently to protect the rights and interests of farmers and ranchers.
According to Ivan London, the head of energy and environment litigation for Mountain States, “We are happy for this victory and to see this chapter closed. Our win in this case is a victory for property rights and responsible conservation. The decision by the plaintiffs to not pursue this case to the Supreme Court demonstrates that their attempts to disrupt and obstruct sensible recovery plans for grizzly bears have failed. At Mountain States Legal Foundation, we stay dedicated to upholding the law, protecting property rights, and ensuring that regulators make decisions about endangered species that are based on reason, science and the law, not endless litigation.”
