Opinion ID: 692069
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the alabama red-bellied turtles counts: the endangered species act issues

Text: 39 The Secretary of the Interior (the Secretary) has authority under the ESA to promulgate a list of endangered and threatened species to be protected under the Act. See 16 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1533 (West 1985). 4 The ESA defines endangered species as any species which is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range, 16 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1532(6) (West 1985), and threatened species as any species which is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range. 16 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1532(20) (West 1985). In July 1986, the Secretary proposed listing the Alabama red-bellied turtle as a threatened species. 51 Fed.Reg. 24,727 (1986). Eleven months later, he adopted a regulation listing the turtle as an endangered species. 52 Fed.Reg. 22,939 (1987). During the process, the Secretary changed the status of the turtle from threatened to endangered, and he did so in response to one of the public comments received in support of the turtle's protection. Id. at 22,941. Neither Guthrie nor anyone else submitted any public comments opposed to listing the turtle. See id. 40 The ESA provides a petition process for agency review, see 16 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1533(b)(3)(A) (West 1985 & Supp.1994), and it also authorizes citizen suits to challenge whether the Secretary has met his duties under the act. 16 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1540(g) (West 1985). In the seven years since the regulation listing the Alabama red-bellied turtle as an endangered species was adopted, neither Guthrie nor anyone else has attempted to have the regulation reviewed by either of these authorized means. Instead, having willfully violated the regulation, Guthrie now seeks to collaterally attack its validity in this criminal proceeding. Guthrie's sole defense to the charge that his conduct violated the ESA is that the Alabama red-bellied turtle is not a species, that the Secretary therefore lacked the authority to list it as an endangered species, and that as a result, the ESA does not entitle the Alabama red-bellied turtle to protection. 41
42 The extent, if any, to which Guthrie can collaterally attack in his criminal prosecution the regulation listing the Alabama red-bellied turtle as an endangered species is a question of law, which we review de novo. See United States v. Osburn, 955 F.2d 1500, 1503 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 223, 121 L.Ed.2d 160 & --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 290, 121 L.Ed.2d 215 (1992). Although no Eleventh Circuit precedent addresses this issue, other decisions suggest that collateral review of an agency regulation in a criminal proceeding should be narrow or nonexistent. In two cases involving criminal prosecutions for activities involving species protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, federal courts have declared that where [the Secretary] has promulgated facially valid regulations [under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act] we do not think that a defendant in a criminal case can collaterally attack them. United States v. Gigstead, 528 F.2d 314, 317 (8th Cir.1976); see also United States v. Darst, 726 F.Supp. 286, 287 (D.Kan.1989) (same). 43 The Supreme Court applied a narrow review to regulations in a criminal prosecution under the Clean Air Act, when it allowed criminal defendants to challenge whether the Administrator of the EPA had authority to promulgate emission standards under the language of the statute. In Adamo Wrecking Co. v. United States, 434 U.S. 275, 98 S.Ct. 566, 54 L.Ed.2d 538 (1978), the Court reviewed the Administrator's action but limited its review to the question of whether the promulgated regulation could be considered an emission standard: 44 The narrow inquiry to be addressed by the court in a criminal prosecution is not whether the Administrator has complied with appropriate procedures in promulgating the regulation in question, or whether the particular regulation is arbitrary, capricious, or supported by the administrative record.... The question is only whether the regulation which the defendant is alleged to have violated is on its face an emission standard within the broad limits of the congressional meaning of that term. 45 Adamo, 434 U.S. at 285, 98 S.Ct. at 573. The language of the Clean Air Act limits Adamo's applicability, however, because the statute expressly prohibited review of the Administrator's emission standard promulgations in any criminal or civil proceedings for enforcement. See Clean Air Act, Pub.L. No. 91-604, Sec. 307(b), 1970 U.S.C.C.A.N. (84 Stat. 1676) 1954, 1994 (current version codified at 42 U.S.C. Sec. 7607(b)(2)). As the ESA has no such preclusive language, Adamo is distinguishable. 46 The Adamo decision therefore does not answer the question of whether the scope of review applicable to regulations listing animals as endangered species under the ESA is narrower when the regulations are collaterally attacked in a criminal proceeding than the scope of review would be on direct review of those same regulations. We need not decide that question either, because its answer is not essential to the disposition of this case. Even assuming that the scope of collateral review is as broad as the scope of direct review, the regulation in this case must still be upheld. 47
48 When directly reviewing an agency decision or regulation, a court does not consider any evidence that was not in the record before the agency at the time that it made the decision or promulgated the regulation. See Florida Power & Light Co. v. Lorion, 470 U.S. 729, 743, 105 S.Ct. 1598, 1607, 84 L.Ed.2d 643 (1985) ([T]he focal point for judicial review should be the administrative record already in existence, not some new record made initially in the reviewing court.) (quoting Camp v. Pitts, 411 U.S. 138, 142, 93 S.Ct. 1241, 1244, 36 L.Ed.2d 106 (1973)). 49 Under the Administrative Procedure Act, the only agency action available for our review is the Secretary's 1987 decision to list the Alabama red-bellied turtles as an endangered species. See 5 U.S.C.A. Sec. 704 (West 1977) (allowing judicial review of agency action made reviewable by statute and final agency action for which there is no other adequate remedy in a court). The DNA study Guthrie sought to have considered by the district court was never presented to the Secretary. In fact, to this day, Guthrie has never presented the Secretary with any evidence or argument that the Alabama red-bellied turtle is not a species. At the time of the rulemaking, Guthrie could have petitioned for further review. 16 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1533(b)(3)(A) (West 1985). Even after the type of DNA analysis Guthrie touts emerged as a new scientific tool, Guthrie made no attempt to have the Secretary change the regulation listing the turtle as a species, nor did he attempt to challenge the listing in any way until he was caught engaging in the criminal conduct that led to this prosecution. 50 As a result, the Secretary has never had an opportunity to view Guthrie's DNA study, let alone to undertake any agency action, finding[ ] ... [or] conclusion[ ] regarding the validity of that study or its possible impact on the decision to list the Alabama red-bellied turtle as an endangered species. 5 U.S.C.A. Sec. 706 (West 1985). Permitting a challenge to an agency regulation on the grounds of new scientific evidence to be made collaterally in a criminal prosecution would deprive the courts of the expertise of the administrative agency, and would prevent the agency from fulfilling its function. 51 Guthrie did not seek to change the agency regulation. He chose to violate the law. We will not reward that choice by allowing him to bypass the agency and receive judicial review of the regulation in light of the new DNA study. Instead, Guthrie at most is entitled to the same review he would have received had he sought direct review of the agency regulation at the time it was promulgated. Such review is limited to the evidence before the agency at that time. 52 3. The Application of an Arbitrary and Capricious Standard to Review of the Agency Regulation 53 On direct review of the Secretary's decision to list the Alabama red-bellied turtle as an endangered species, we would hold that decision unlawful only if we found it to be arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law. 5 U.S.C.A. Sec. 706(2)(A) (West 1977). 5 This arbitrary and capricious standard applies to the Secretary's finding that [t]he Alabama red-bellied turtle is considered to be a valid species. 52 Fed.Reg. 22,939 (1987); 51 Fed.Reg. 24,727 (1986). Having reviewed the sources and studies cited by the Secretary in support of this finding, we conclude that the Secretary did not act arbitrarily or capriciously when he found the Alabama red-bellied turtle to be a valid species. 54 In its proposed regulation, the Secretary acknowledged that [t]he taxonomic status of this turtle has been questioned ... and questions still remain regarding its relationships with other members of the Pseudemys rubriventris group, specifically the Florida red-bellied turtle .... 51 Fed.Reg. 24,727 (1986). The Secretary then cited two texts by the same herpetologist questioning the taxonomic status of the species. Id. In the final regulation, the Secretary listed six other texts in support of his finding that the Alabama red-bellied turtle is nevertheless a valid species. 52 Fed.Reg. 22,939 (1987). The eight texts cited by the Secretary reflect the scientific history behind the Secretary's conclusion that the Alabama red-bellied turtle is a separate species. 55 The Alabama red-bellied turtle was first classified as a species with the name Pseudemys alabamensis by a herpetologist named Baur in 1893. See 52 Fed.Reg. 22,939 (1987). In the 1930s, another herpetologist named Archie Carr authored an article and a book questioning whether the Alabama red-bellied turtle was a species. In the article, Carr concluded that Pseudemys alabamensis was not a species but likely a mutant occurring in [Pseudemys] mobiliensis and suwanniensis. A.F. Carr, Jr., A New Subspecies of Pseudemys Floridana, with Notes on the Floridana Complex, 1938 Copeia 105, 109 n. 6. In the book, Carr catalogued the morphological traits of several species from the floridana group of turtles before stating that it seems nearly certain that another Gulf coast turtle known to herpetologists for the last fifty years as P. alabamensis, and characterized by having a deep notch and toothlike cusps at the tip of the upper jaw, is really just a variant form that occurs with apparently equal frequency among [two different subspecies of turtle in the family Emydidae]. Archie Carr, Handbook of Turtles: The Turtles of the United States, Canada, and Baja California 280 (1952). 56 Five years after his book was published, Carr changed his position in an article he co-authored with John W. Crenshaw, Jr. 6 Carr and Crenshaw explained that in reaching his earlier conclusion that the Alabama red-bellied turtle was not a species, Carr had examined specimens of the turtle from New Orleans, Mobile, and Crystal River in Florida, and had observed that they exhibited characteristics of other turtles in those areas. See Carr & Crenshaw, supra note 6, at 31. Carr and Crenshaw then distinguished the Alabama red-bellied turtle from Pseudemys floridana based on different morphological characteristics from the ones Carr had noted previously, especially the presence of head markings in the shape of a pre-frontal arrow. See id. at 31. The herpetologists also suggested that at least one of Carr's Crystal River turtles may have been misidentified. Id. They concluded that the Alabama red-bellied turtle was indeed a separate species, despite its apparent intergradation with two different groups of emydid turtles. See id. at 41. 57 Since Carr and Crenshaw's publication, the authors of five other books and studies cited by the Secretary have agreed that the Alabama red-bellied turtle, Pseudemys alabamensis, deserves separate species status. See, e.g., Pritchard, supra note 6, at 133; Ward, supra note 6, at 43. Some of these scientists have concurred in this status even while noting that unresolved taxonomic questions remain. See, e.g., McCoy and Vogt, supra note 6, at 1-3 (Pseudemys alabamensis ... is a large, robust emydine turtle of the Pseudemys rubriventris group, but the question of subspecific relationships remains open.); Mount, supra note 6, at 286 (1975) (Based on information currently available, I concur in Carr and Crenshaw's treatment of alabamensis as a species within the rubriventris group, but consider its occurrence outside Alabama problematical.). 58 The final study relied upon by the Secretary was published just two years before the Secretary's decision. It reclassifies some of the turtle specimens labeled Pseudemys alabamensis by Carr and Crenshaw, and finds that the Alabama red-bellied turtle is a valid species that is endemic to Alabama. Dobie, supra note 6, at 9. After trapping twelve rivers and the lakes on one island, id. at 7, Dobie found Alabama red-bellied turtles only along the Mobile River system, suggesting that earlier studies which found the Alabama red-bellied turtle as widely spread as Texas and Florida had misidentified the examined turtles. Id. at 10-11. Dobie and the later sources thus re-affirmed the resurrected species status of Pseudemys alabamensis, the Alabama red-bellied turtle. 7 59 Given scientific support from numerous herpetologists, the Secretary did not act arbitrarily or capriciously when he listed the Alabama red-bellied turtle as an endangered species. This circuit is highly deferential to an agency's consideration of the factors relevant to its decision. Hussion v. Madigan, 950 F.2d 1546, 1553 (11th Cir.1992). The Secretary noted that the Alabama red-bellied turtle's status had indeed been questioned in the past, and thus he did not entirely fail[ ] to consider an important aspect of the problem. Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Ass'n of the United States, Inc. v. State Farm Mutual Auto. Ins. Co., 463 U.S. 29, 43, 103 S.Ct. 2856, 2867, 77 L.Ed.2d 443 (1983). Nor was the Secretary's finding so implausible that it could not be ascribed to a difference in view or the product of agency expertise. Id. Having examined the articles, studies, and books relied upon by the Secretary when he concluded that the Alabama red-bellied turtle is a separate taxonomic species, we are satisfied that, despite the absence of total agreement within the scientific community, his finding is entirely reasonable. It certainly is not arbitrary or capricious.