ELR Citation: 55 ELR 20103
No(s). 23-5285 (D.C. Cir. Aug 1, 2025)

The D.C. Circuit affirmed dismissal of a challenge to an FWS rule downlisting the American burying beetle from endangered to threatened and to its ESA §4(d) rule establishing protections for conservation of the beetle based on the downlisting. An environmental group argued the downlisting rule was inconsistent with the ESA and that the decision to downlist was arbitrary and capricious because it provided less stringent protections in the Southern Plains than in other regions. A district court concluded FWS reasonably determined that the predicted serious threats to the beetle's continued existence in the 2040-2069 time period qualified as within the "foreseeable future" for purposes of threatened species status, but did not make the beetle "in danger of extinction" now; and that the downlisting rule and the Service's tailoring of the §4(d) protections were supported by the record and adequately explained. The appellate court found FWS' conclusion that the beetle was not endangered when it issued the downlisting rule in 2020 fell within the bounds of reasonable judgment and was consistent with the record evidence, and that the group failed to establish standing as to its §4(d) challenge. It affirmed dismissal.