ELR Citation: 56 ELR 20047
No(s). 2:16-cv-00818-DJC-JDP (E.D. Cal. Mar 31, 2026) (Calabretta, J.)

A district court granted in part and denied in part an environmental group's motion for summary judgment in a dispute concerning federal agencies' management of two dams on the Yuba River. The group argued the agencies violated the ESA by improperly defining the scope of the Corps' "agency action" in preparing a 2014 letter of concurrence (LOC), as supplemented by a 2022 LOC, and NMFS 2024 biological opinion (BiOp), that the Corps violated its substantive duties under ESA §7, and that it was liable for take under §9. The court found the group did not establish that the Corps' determination that the dams were not an agency action was arbitrary and capricious, that it appeared the dams were not authorized, funded, or carried out by the Corps, and that the Corps lacked discretion to influence or change the existence of the dams for the benefit of protected species; but that the agencies failed to adequately explain why a diversion segment was excluded from the 2024 BiOp. It granted summary judgment for the group as relates to exclusion of the diversion from the agency action, granted summary judgment to the agencies as to the remainder of the motion, and remanded to NMFS to reassess the BiOp.