In re Polar Bear Endangered Species Act Listing and § 4(d) Rule Litigation
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
709 F.3d 1 (2013)
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) listed polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, using the best available climate models to define the statute's "foreseeable future" as 45 years and citing the bears' dependence on declining sea ice, worsened by climate change. After reviewing 19 distinct polar-bear populations, FWS found them not sufficiently distinguishable to warrant separate listing segments. Industry groups, environmental organizations, and states sued, challenging the listing as either overly restrictive or insufficiently protective and arguing FWS misapplied the record on both the population-segment question and the 45-year foreseeability period; the district court rejected all challenges and granted summary judgment to FWS, and the parties appealed.
Whether a challenge to a federal agency's policy decision will succeed if the challenge is based on a policy disagreement rather than a mistake in the agency's decision-making process.