ELR Citation: ELR 20242
No(s). 02-1650-CO (D. Or. Nov 30, 2006)

The court dismissed an environmental group's Endangered Species Act (ESA) claims against the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Director of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality for failing to initiate and complete formal consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in connection with the state's issuance of a national pollutant discharge elimination system permit to the Klamath Irrigation District. The groups successfully established standing. However, the group's ESA claim against the director of the state agency was dismissed because the state agency is not a federal agency. The group failed to present any cases in which courts have found that a state would be required to comply with federal ESA consultation requirements on grounds that the state program was "federalized" by virtue of receiving state funding, and the court declined to create new law on this issue. And the EPA Administrator was not required to comply with the ESA consultation requirements in this case as it was the state of Oregon, not EPA, that issued the permit.