ELR Citation: 55 ELR 20044
No(s). MO:23-CV-00159-DC (W.D. Kan. Mar 29, 2025) (Counts, J.)

A district court granted summary judgment for landowners and a coalition of counties in a challenge to FWS' issuance of an ESA Section 4(d) Rule alongside its listing of the northern distinct population of lesser prairie-chicken as a threatened species. Plaintiffs argued FWS should have considered economic costs in issuing the Rule. The court found FWS was required to determine whether the rule was "necessary and advisable," and that such a determination required consideration of costs. Because FWS failed to account for costs, including costs of compliance, it failed to consider "all relevant factors" and ignored "important aspects of the problem before it." The court granted summary judgment for plaintiffs and vacated the Rule.