By James Holtkamp
On June 30, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed challenges by the State of Alaska and other parties to the listing of the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. In Re polar Bear Endangered Species Act and 4(d) Rule Litigation, D.D.C., 1:08-mc-764, 6/30/11. The court deferred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and held that the challenging parties had failed to show that the Service had not acted rationally in making its determination. The court refused to determine whether the agency could have reached a different conclusion with regard to the listing. Rather, the court noted that its role is limited to determining “whether the agency’s decision-making process and its ultimate decision to list the polar bear as a threatened species satisfy certain minimal standards of rationality based on the evidence before the agency at that time.”
