ELR Citation: 54 ELR 20059
No(s). 21-119 (RDM) (D.D.C. Apr 12, 2024) (Moss, J.)

A district court denied the state of Florida's motion for a limited stay of the court's prior ruling vacating EPA's approval of Florida's application to assume permitting authority under §404 of the CWA. Environmental groups initially sued, arguing EPA and FWS violated the ESA because neither the programmatic biological opinion (BiOp) nor the programmatic incidental take statement (ITS) included species-specific analysis, effects analysis, quantification of take, and related statutory and regulatory requirements. The court had found the BiOp and ITS failed to satisfy ESA requirements, and vacated EPA's approval. Florida subsequently argued a limited stay of the vacatur was needed to avoid undue disruption, confusion, and delay in §404 permitting in the state. The court found a limited stay was "neither workable nor desirable," because it would require various federal agencies to work with the state to continue processing §404 applications that do not implicate the ESA, while requiring the Corps to process those that do implicate the ESA. It denied the motion.