Fema

MEMORANDUM DECISION RE FEDERAL DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT (DOC. 121)

I. INTRODUCTION

This case is before the Court on the Federal Defendant’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment. This case involves a challenge to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (“FEMA”) administration of the National Flood Insurance Program (“NFIP”) in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (“Delta”). Plaintiffs, the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta and Kern County Water Agency, allege in their first claim for relief that FEMA’s ongoing implementation of the NFIP, by, among other things, certifying community eligibility for the NFIP, monitoring community compliance and enforcement with FEMA’s criteria for eligibility, and revising flood maps, provides incentives for development within the Delta that might otherwise not occur and therefore requires consultation under Section 7 of the ESA. Third Amended Complaint (“TAC”), Doc. 118, at ¶¶ 82-83.

Plaintiffs claim that residential, commercial, and agricultural development in the Delta adversely affects four listed species: Sacramento River winter-run Chi-nook salmon, the Central Valley spring-run Chinook salmon, the Central Valley…