ELR Citation: ELR 20055
No(s). 07-4609 (3d Cir. Mar 11, 2009)

The Third Circuit affirmed the dismissal of conservation groups' lawsuit challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS') decision not to list as endangered on an emergency basis the red knot, a migratory shorebird. After the groups filed their lawsuit, the FWS issued its final determination—that the listing of the red knot was warranted but precluded by higher-priority listing activity—in its periodic Candidate Notice of Review. Because the groups never sought to amend their complaint to contest in any way that conclusion, there is no issue for the court to decide and no "meaningful relief" to award. Moreover, now that the higher-priority listing has been issued, the emergency monitoring system set forth at §4(b)(3)(C)(iii) of the Endangered Species Act has become available in the event of exigent circumstances that warrant immediate protection of the red knot. The groups' appeal is therefore moot.