News & Analysis as of

Energy Projects Endangered Species Act (ESA) US Fish and Wildlife Service

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

The Department of the Interior Establishes New Review Procedures for Wind and Solar Energy Projects

On July 15, 2025, the Office of the Secretary of the Department of the Interior (the “Department”) issued a memorandum—“Departmental Review Procedures for Decisions, Actions, Consultations, and Other Undertakings Related to...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Butterfly Nets and Business Bets: How Proposed Protections for Monarchs Could Snare Agribusiness, Renewables and Development

On December 12, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) published its proposal in the Federal Register to list the Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA)....more

Troutman Pepper Locke

USFWS Spreads Its Wings – Final Eagle ‎Permit Rule Embodies ‎New Approach to Troubled Permit ‎Process

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On February 12, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“USFWS” or “Service”) issued a long-awaited final rule revising its eagle permit program under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 668-668d) (“BGEPA”)....more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Lek It or Not: ESA Listing of Lesser ‎Prairie-Chicken Has Major ‎Implications for Energy ‎Projects in ‎the Southwest

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On November 25, 2022, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (the “Service”) published a final rule listing two Distinct Population Segments (“DPSs”) for the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus, “LEPC”) under the...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Proposes New Regulations Creating General Eagle “Take” Permits for Certain Wind Energy and Power Line...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently published a proposed rule revising regulations that authorize permit issuance for eagle incidental take and eagle nest take under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (the...more

Stoel Rives - Renewable + Law

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Proposes Revisions to Eagle Permit Rules, Including General Permits for Qualifying Wind Energy Projects,...

On September 30, 2022 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“Service”) published notice in the Federal Register of a proposed rule amending its regulations authorizing permits for eagle incidental take and eagle nest take....more

Nossaman LLP

Federal Court Finds BLM Violated ESA in Failing to Reinitiate Consultation for Oil and Gas Leases

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On February 9, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado found that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) when it failed to reinitiate consultation with the U.S. Fish...more

Jackson Walker

Proposed Listing of Lesser Prairie-Chicken Under Endangered Species Act and Potential Impact on Energy Projects

Jackson Walker on

On June 1, 2021, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) published a proposed rule in the Federal Register to list the lesser prairie-chicken under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The proposal distinguishes between...more

Allen Matkins

California Environmental Law & Policy Update - November 2020

Allen Matkins on

U.S. formally exits Paris Climate Agreement - Bullet Associated Press – November 4 - The United States this Wednesday formally left the Paris Climate Agreement, a global pact it helped forge five years ago during the...more

Nossaman LLP

Transmission Line Permit Invalidated, USFWS Ordered to Redo Endangered Species Act Analyses

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On June 17, 2020, a federal court in Colorado vacated an incidental take permit (ITP) issued to the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) authorizing take of the endangered American burying beetle (ABB) that could occur in...more

Snell & Wilmer

Bird Trouble: Trump Administration Plans for Greater Sage Grouse Shot Down by Federal Court; States Take a Shot Too

Snell & Wilmer on

The greater sage-grouse is a chicken-like bird that is currently found in 11 western states. For more than 25 years, there has been considerable controversy concerning whether to list the greater sage-grouse for protection...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

US FWS Announces Record of Decision Streamlining Wind Energy Permitting for the Upper Great Plains

Latham & Watkins LLP on

On July 7, 2016, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced its Record of Decision (ROD) for the Upper Great Plains Wind Energy Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS). This is the final step in a process...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

USFWS Issues Broader 4(d) Rule for Northern Long-Eared Bats: What it Means for Energy Developers

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On January 13, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) released its Final 4(d) Rule for the Northern Long-Eared Bat (Final Rule). The Final Rule greatly expands upon the scope of the interim 4(d) rule that the Service...more

WilmerHale

Administration Announces New Mitigation Policies

WilmerHale on

This afternoon, the Administration issued two policies intended to encourage private investment in natural resource conservation and to facilitate application of the mitigation hierarchy—avoiding, minimizing and compensating...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

Court Rejects 30 Year Eagle Permit Rule on NEPA Grounds

Latham & Watkins LLP on

On August 11, 2015, the US District Court for the Northern District of California remanded a US Fish & Wildlife Service’s (FWS) 2013 final rule that had extended the maximum duration of eagle take programmatic permits under...more

Nossaman LLP

When Uncertainty Surrounds California Solar Project, Court Defers to Agency Not Tortoise

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Project opponents have been invoking the Endangered Species Act (ESA) with increasing regularity in an attempt to block the construction of large-scale renewable energy projects. ...more

Gray Reed

The Fat Lady Who Hasn’t Sung, Oil Field Technology, and a Lizard

Gray Reed on

Today is a grab-bag of topics, a pastiche if your college tuition was higher than mine. When Will the Fat Lady Sing? El Paso Marketing, LP v. Wolf Hollow I, L.P., involving a gas plant Supply Agreement,...more

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