Fund for Animals, Inc. v. Hogan case brief

Fund for Animals, Inc. v. Hogan case brief
428 F.3d 1059

CASE SYNOPSIS: Plaintiff fund sued defendant United States Fish and Wildlife Service, claiming certain decisions of the Service violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). The United States District Court for the District of Columbia rejected the claims. The fund appealed.

FACTS: In August 2000 the fund petitioned the Service to list, on an emergency and alternatively on a non-emergency basis, the tri-state portion of the Rocky Mountain population of the trumpeter swan as endangered or threatened. In September the Service replied in a letter stating the birds included in the petition were not recognized by the Service as a population. In January 2003 the Service finally published the requisite 90-day finding in which it detailed why the tri-state swans were not a distinct population segment apart from the Rocky Mountain population. The fund argued the 90-day finding did not supersede or amend the earlier letter, which addressed the petition to initiate emergency listing under 16 U.S.C.S. § 1533(b)(7). 

DISCUSSION

• The instant court concluded the fund had no statutory right to petition the Secretary of the Interior for an emergency listing under § 1533(b)(7), and no right to a decision meeting any particular procedural or substantive standards. 
• Insofar as the September 2000 letter addressed the petition for non-emergency listing, the district court did not err in dismissing as moot the fund's claim because the letter was superceded in full by the belated 90-day finding.

CONCLUSION: The instant court affirmed the order of the district court dismissing as moot the fund's claim under the ESA. The instant court also dismissed as moot the fund's claims under the APA, the NEPA, and the MBTA, and vacated the orders of the district court relating thereto.