ELR Citation: 52 ELR 20041
No(s). 20-cv-1150 (CRC) (D.D.C. Mar 31, 2022) (Cooper, J.)

A district court granted in part and denied in part conservation groups' motion for summary judgment in a challenge to NMFS' 2019 decision not to list the alewife and blueback herring as threatened under the ESA. The groups argued that NMFS failed to adequately account for climate change-related harms, the Service's "recolonization theory" for assessing distinct population segments lacked any basis in the record, and its "significant portion of of its range" analysis was flawed. The court found NMFS provided a rational explanation for its decision and that its reasoning was reasonably discernible, but that it failed to adequately explain its finding that the Southern New England blueback herring population was not a distinct population segment and why it did not assess the population under its "significant portion of its range" policy. The court upheld the listing decision, but remanded to NMFS for further explanation.