Opinion ID: 1322365
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Eradication of the effects of the alleged violation

Text: The second prong of the Supreme Court's voluntary cessation calculus is [that] interim relief or events have completely and irrevocably eradicated the effects of the alleged violation. Davis, 440 U.S. at 631, 99 S.Ct. 1379. The majority concludes, I believe correctly, that the 2001 and 2002 Biological Opinions have been superseded, but the majority seems to draw the incorrect conclusion that the effects of these Biological Opinions have been eradicated. The district court acted reasonably in expanding its inquiry beyond the four corners of the Biological Opinions to the actual effects of the agencies' conduct on the minnow's habitat: [E]ven though an unusually wet spring in 2005 resulted in a dramatic increase in minnow spawning, it may never be known how the agencies' dogged refusal to consider using project water in past years to prevent unnecessary river drying has affected the downward spiral of the silvery minnow. 469 F.Supp.2d at 1010. As the recently released Rio Grande Silvery Minnow Recovery Plan observes, Threats to [the silvery minnow] and its habitat indicate[] that it could be expected to become extinct in the foreseeable future. Rio Grande Silvery Minnow Recovery Plan, First Revision, Southwest Region, U.S. FWS, Approved 01/15/10. Cf. County of Los Angeles, 440 U.S. at 633, 99 S.Ct. 1379 (holding that the second condition of mootness [has been met] because petitioners' compliance. . . has completely cured any discriminatory effects of the . . . proposal) (emphasis added). Thus I conclude that the district court acted quite reasonably when it determined that the federal agencies cannot show that the effects of the ESA violation have been completely and irrevocably eradicated. 469 F.Supp.2d at 1010. Furthermore, even reviewing the record de novo, I would conclude that the federal defendants cannot show a complete cure of the ESA violation.