The Role of HCPs in Court (previous Cases/standing)
The number of approved HCPs has grown since the first HCP was created in 1983 for San Bruno Mountain in San Mateo County, California. Congress wanted the San Bruno Mountain HCP to serve as a model for future HCPs in that it was created from “an independent exhaustive biological study” and that it considered the habitat of the Mission Blue Butterfly (Aricia icarioides missionensis) “to allow for enhancement of the survival of the species”. This model has drawn concern because it focuses more on species survival, while the intent of HCPs is to aid species recovery; and has resulted in HCPs being frequently challenged in court. In Sierra Club v. Babbitt, 15 F. Supp. 2D 1274 (S.D.Ala.1998), the Plaintiff challenged the USFWS issuance of Incidental Take Permits to the developers of two beachfront condominium projects based on the HCPs submitted as part of the application process. The Plaintiffs argued that the HCPs created for the endangered Alabama Beach Mouse (Peromyscus polionotus ammobates) did not fulfill the requirements of ESA section 10(a)(2)(B) requiring the development of “a mitigation program that will minimize and mitigate the impacts of the proposed taking to the maximum extent practicable”. Additionally, the Plaintiff argued that there was insufficient biological data for the Alabama beach mouse species in the HCP, including population abundance, to determine allowable levels of take. The Court found for the Plaintiffs and remanded the decision to issue the Incidental Take Permits to USFWS.
Read more about this topic: Habitat Conservation Plan
Famous quotes containing the words role, court and/or cases:
“Is not our role to stand for the one thing which means our own salvation here but with which it will also be possible to save the world, and with which Europe will be able to save itself, namely the preservation of the white man and his state?”
—Hendrik Verwoerd (1901–1966)
“The city is recruited from the country. In the year 1805, it is said, every legitimate monarch in Europe was imbecile. The city would have died out, rotted, and exploded, long ago, but that it was reinforced from the fields. It is only country which came to town day before yesterday, that is city and court today.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“In most cases a favorite writer is more with us in his book than he ever could have been in the flesh; since, being a writer, he is one who has studied and perfected this particular mode of personal incarnation, very likely to the detriment of any other. I should like as a matter of curiosity to see and hear for a moment the men whose works I admire; but I should hardly expect to find further intercourse particularly profitable.”
—Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929)