CHAPTER 1 THE LISTING AND DELISTING PROCESSES

• Jurisdiction: United States

Endangered Species Act
(Nov 2015)
CHAPTER 1
THE LISTING AND DELISTING PROCESSES
Holly Doremus
James H. House
Hiram H. Hurd
Professor of Environmental Regulation
Co-Faculty Director of the Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment
University of California, Berkeley, School of Law
Berkeley, CA

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HOLLY DOREMUS is the James H. House and Hiram H. Hurd Professor of Environmental Regulation at the University of California, Berkeley and Co-Faculty Director of the Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment. She is a Member Scholar of the Center for Progressive Reform and serves on the Board of Directors of Defenders of Wildlife. She received her B.S. in biology from Trinity College (Hartford, CT), Ph.D. in plant physiology from Cornell University, and J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. After law school, she clerked for Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and practiced law in Corvallis, Oregon. She began her teaching career at the University of California, Davis, moving to Berkeley in 2008. Doremus has written extensively about environmental and natural resources law; the primary focal points of her research work are biodiversity protection, the intersection between property rights and environmental regulation, and the interrelationship of environmental law and science.

The Listing and Delisting Process ESA § 4

Holly Doremus

James H. House and Hiram H. Hurd Professor of Environmental Regulation

University of California, Berkeley

Listing (or Delisting) is a Keystone Decision

Listed species are protected by Sections 7 and 9.

Unlisted species receive little or no federal protection.

Not surprisingly, the listing (or delisting) decision is frequently contested and controversial

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Listing Decisions Must Be Based on Science

The Secretary shall make [listing] determinations . . . solely on the basis of the best scientific and commercial data available to him after conducting a review of the status of the species and after taking into account those efforts, if any, being made by any State or foreign nation, or any political subdivision of a State or foreign nation, to protect such species . . .

ESA § 4(b)(1)(A)

But Politics Seems to Play a Big Role

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Key Actors in the Listing Process

Two agencies:

USFWS (Interior) - terrestrial species

NOAA Fisheries (Commerce) - marine species

Any interested person can petition for listing or delisting; if the petition presents substantial information that the action may be warranted, the agency must do a status review.

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And any interested...