ELR Citation: 42 ELR 20103
No(s). 11-11915 (11th Cir. Apr 18, 2012)

The Eleventh Circuit upheld FWS' decision denying environmental groups' petitions to designate critical habitat for the Florida panther under the ESA. The Secretary of the Interior listed the Florida panther as an endangered species in 1967—more than a decade before the 1978 amendments required a critical habitat designation to accompany the listing of a species. No critical habitat for the Florida panther was designated at that time, and none has been designated since. After FWS denied the groups' petition to designate critical habitat, the groups filed suit. But FWS' decision not to initiate rulemaking to designate critical habitat for species listed before the 1978 ESA amendments was committed to agency discretion by law. Neither the ESA nor the regulations cited by groups provide any meaningful standard against which to judge the agency's exercise of discretion in this case. Consequently, the APA does not provide for judicial review.