USFWS Ordered to Determine Bald Eagle Delisting

September 22, 2006 - A federal court in Minnesota ruled last month that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) violated the Endangered Species Act (ESP) and Administrative Procedures Act by failing to make a final determination on a proposed rule to delist the bald eagle. The bald eagle was proposed to be delisted in 1999, but delisting never occurred and in 2006 comments were reopened.

Plaintiff, a Minnesota developer, was told by the Department of Natural Resources that he could not build within 330 feet of a bald eagle nest on his property. The court agreed that the ESA requires a final determination within a year of proposed delisting. It ordered that a final rule be issued by Feb. 16, 2007.

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