Natural Resources Defense Council v. United States Department of the Interior

ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR VOLUNTARY REMAND

I. Introduction.

On December 10, 2001 the government moved for a voluntary remand of the critical habitat designations represented in the Final Determination of Critical Habitat for the Coastal California Gnatcatcher (“gnat-catcher”), 63 Fed.Reg. 63680 (Oct. 24, 2000), and in the Final Determination of Critical Habitat for the San Diego Fairy Shrimp (“fairy shrimp”), 65 Fed.Reg. 63438 (Oct. 23, 2000), for the purpose of allowing the Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) to revisit these determinations in accordance with the requirements of Section 4(b)(2) of the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”), 16 U.S.C. § 1533 (b)(2). The plaintiffs challenge the gnatcatcher critical habitat rule in all three related-cases, while only the plaintiffs in Buildings Industry Association of Southern California et al. v. Norton, CV 01-7028 SVW (CTx) challenge the fairy shrimp critical habitat designation (“CHD”).

The Natural Resources Defense Council and Dr. Elizabeth Brown (collectively “NRDC”) oppose the motion for voluntary remand. Numerous intervenor-defendants and the related-case plaintiffs briefed the motions for voluntary remand and vaca-tur. The Court…