Endangered Species Law & Policy

On December 8, 2025, a Massachusetts Federal District Court struck down federal agency resistance to permitting wind energy projects. The court granted summary judgment to seventeen states and Alliance for Clean Energy New York and vacated what the court referred to as the federal agencies’ “Wind Order.”

The agencies implemented the Wind Order in response to a Presidential Memorandum issued on January 20, 2025, entitled Temporary Withdrawal of All Areas on the Outer Continental Shelf From Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of the Federal Government’s Leasing and ...

On November 21, 2025, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service (collectively, the Services) published several proposed rules to revise their regulations implementing certain provisions of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). To a substantial extent, the Services are proposing to return to the regulations put in place by the first Trump Administration in its prior rulemakings and thereby undo the changes put in place by the Biden Administration. This is the fourth in a series of blog posts that will briefly describe each proposed rule. The notice states ...

On November 21, 2025, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service (collectively, the Services) published several proposed rules to revise their regulations implementing certain provisions of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). To a substantial extent, the Services are proposing to return to the regulations put in place by the first Trump Administration in its prior rulemakings and thereby undo the changes put in place by the Biden Administration in its prior rulemakings. This is the third in a series of blog posts that will briefly describe each proposed ...

On November 21, 2025, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service (collectively, the Services) published several proposed rules to revise their regulations implementing certain provisions of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). To a substantial extent, the Services are proposing to return to the regulations put in place by the first Trump administration in its prior rulemakings and thereby undo the changes put in place by the Biden administration in its prior rulemakings. This is the second in a series of blog posts that will briefly describe each proposed ...

On November 21, 2025, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service (collectively, the Services) published several proposed rules to revise their regulations implementing certain provisions of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). To a substantial extent, the Services are proposing to return to the regulations put in place by the first Trump administration in its prior rulemakings and thereby undo the changes put in place by the Biden administration in its prior rulemakings. This is one in a series of blog posts that will briefly describe each proposed rule ...

Paul Weiland will be speaking on a panel on “Agency Happenings” at the 33rd Annual Endangered Species Act Conference in Seattle, Washington. The conference, organized by the Seminar Group, will be January 29 and 30, 2026 at the Courtyard Marriott at Pioneer Square. As the premier Endangered Species Act (ESA) conference in the Pacific Northwest, the conference includes faculty who are leading practitioners in the field of federal wildlife law and policy.

The conference spans a day and a half and provides the latest and most important information on ESA compliance. Panel topics ...

Per Governor Newsom’s latest legislative update, he has signed AB 1319. The law will become effective on January 1, 2026. For our discussion of this bill and its potential implications, please see the following post. 

“California Legislature Sends Endangered Species Bill to Governor” ... 

On September 10, 2025, the California Senate passed Assembly Bill 1319 (AB 1319) with amendments, and the following day the California Assembly concurred in the amendments sending the bill to Governor Newsom for his consideration. AB 1319 is a direct response to concerns that the federal government may reduce existing protections for species listed as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). To do so, it proposes to establish a new category of species under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA), “provisional candidate species.”

What ...

On August 22, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the decision of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Service) to deny a petition to remove the southwestern willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus) from the list of species protected by the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Service listed the southwestern willow flycatcher as an endangered species in 1995. The southwestern willow flycatcher is a small migratory bird that winters in Central and South America with a range in the United States that includes southern California, southern Nevada ...

On August 12, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas (Midland Odessa Division) granted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (Service) request to vacate and remand the agency’s final rule (Final Rule) listing the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) (LEPC) under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The effect of the court’s order is to set aside the Final Rule, meaning the LEPC will no longer be listed under the ESA. According to the Service, it had identified a “serious, foundational defect” in the Final Rule. The defect identified by ...