Opinion ID: 1196062
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the agencies' failure to reinitiate consultation

Text: Salmon Spawning also alleged that the State Department and NMFS were obligated by ESA § 7 and its implementing regulations to reinitiate consultation on the 1999 BiOp. Consultation under § 7 must be reinitiated where (a) discretionary federal involvement or control has been retained or authorized; and (b) the amount or extent of taking specified is exceeded, new information reveals effects that may affect listed species or critical habitat in a manner not considered, the action is subsequently modified so as to cause an effect to the listed species or critical habitat not previously considered, or a new species is listed or critical habitat designated. 50 C.F.R. § 402.16. The duty to reinitiate consultation lies with both the action agency and the consulting agency. See id. According to Salmon Spawning, since the BiOp was issued in 1999, new criteria developed by NMFS show that the Canadian harvest is taking more Puget Sound chinook than the BiOp anticipated; new data shows the amount and extent of the Canadian harvest of ESA-listed salmon; NMFS has changed the definition of salmon evolutionary significant units since 1999, such that almost three quarters of the salmon caught in some Canadian fisheries are ESA-listed; and it is now possible to differentiate between hatchery-origin salmon and listed salmon. These claims alleged sufficient injury to satisfy the case or controversy requirement of Article III. With respect to injury in fact, Salmon Spawning claims that the State Department and NMFS violated the procedural requirements of § 7 by failing to reinitiate consultation in light of new information. The requirement that consultation be reinitiated protects a concrete threatened interest that is the basis of Salmon Spawning's standing, the avoidance of harm to listed species. Citizens for Better Forestry, 341 F.3d at 969-70. Because Salmon Spawning has properly alleged procedural injury, as noted earlier, causation and redressibility are relaxed. Lujan, 504 U.S. at 572 n. 7, 112 S.Ct. 2130. That it is uncertain whether reinitiation will ultimately benefit the groups (for example, by resulting in a jeopardy determination) does not undermine their standing. Cantrell, 241 F.3d at 682. The asserted injury is not too tenuously connected to the agencies' failure to reinitiate consultation. And a court order requiring the agencies to reinitiate consultation would remedy the harm asserted. Unlike the other claims, this claim is a forwardlooking allegation whose remedy rests in the hands of federal officials and does not hinge on upsetting the Treaty. Salmon Spawning also meets the requirements for statutory standing under the ESA and the APA. The ESA's citizen-suit provision authorizes the groups to bring suit against the State Department, as the action agency, for failure to comply with its ESA obligations. 16 U.S.C. § 1540(g)(1)(A). As for standing under the APA, the failure to reinitiate § 7 consultation is a final agency action subject to judicial review. See Envtl. Prot. Info. Ctr. v. Simpson Timber Co., 255 F.3d 1073, 1079 (9th Cir.2001). The conservation groups' interests in the protection of listed salmon are within the zone of interests to be protected by the ESA regulation requiring reinitiation. See id. Finally, Salmon Spawning has established associational standing. Public Citizen, 316 F.3d at 1019. Each of the conservation groups' members has standing to sue individually; the interests the groups seek to protect are germane to their purposes as conservation organizations; and neither the claim asserted nor the relief requested requires the participation of the individual members in the lawsuit. Id. Therefore, we reverse the district court's dismissal of Salmon Spawning's third claim for lack of standing and remand for further proceedings. [6] The judgment of the district court is affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded. We remand to the district court to determine whether attorneys' fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2412, should be granted. Each party shall pay its own costs on appeal. AFFIRMED in part, REVERSED in part, and REMANDED.