NWC Comments on ESA Rulemakings

NWC recently submitted comments in response to proposals of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to revise the agencies’ regulations under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Services’ proposals addressed Section 7 consultations, criteria for listing and critical habitat designations, and special protective regulations under ESA Section 4(d) for species listed as threatened.

With respect to Section 7 consultation requirements, NWC urged the agencies to include existing structures and operations in the baseline for the environmental analysis, to avoid automatically extending a consultation obligation to ongoing private activity under a previous federal action, and to include in their environmental analysis only those effects that are reasonably certain to occur. Additional comments were offered regarding listing and critical habitat designations and protective regulations for threatened species.

The comments in the three docketed proceedings are available here:

NWC . FWS-HQ-ES-2018-0006 . 24 Sept 2018 (241KB)