Bear Valley Mutual Water Co. v. Kenneth Salazar

The Santa Ana sucker (Catostomus san-taanae) is a small freshwater fish native to several California rivers and streams, including the Santa Ana River. In 2000, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”), after being sued by conservation groups, designated the sucker as a “threatened” species pursuant to the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”). In 2004, the FWS promulgated a Final Rule designating particular áreas as critical habitat for the sucker. In a subsequent 2005 Final Rule and in a 2009 Proposed Rule, the FWS excluded certain areas covered by local conservation plans from critical habitat designation. But in a 2010 Final Rule, the FWS changed course and designated as critical habitat several thousand acres of land that had previously been excluded.

In August 2011, in response to this change, several municipalities and water districts sued the FWS, the Department of the Interior, and other federal officials, alleging, in essence, that the FWS (1) did not cooperate with the state in resolving water resource issues that arose from the critical habitat designation; (2) acted arbitrarily and capriciously in revising the critical habitat designation to include the…