ELR Citation: 54 ELR 20123
No(s). DLB-20-3060 (D. Md. Aug 19, 2024) (Boardman, J.)

A district court granted summary judgment for environmental groups in a challenge to NMFS' biological opinion (BiOp) on the impact of oil and gas extraction in the Gulf of Mexico on protected marine life. The groups argued NMFS violated the APA and the ESA by issuing a flawed BiOp that underestimated the risks of harm to protected species and took inadequate measures to mitigate the risks. The court found the BiOp underestimated the risk and harms of oil spills to protected species; falsely assumed in its jeopardy analysis for the Rice's whale and Gulf sturgeon that the species' populations remained as large as before the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, despite record evidence and NMFS' findings indicating the spill significantly diminished their populations; only considered two of five stressors likely to jeopardize the Rice's whale; and failed to recognize oil spill take as incidental take. It vacated the BiOp and remanded to NMFS for further proceedings.