Current:Home > StocksJudge in Alaska sets aside critical habitat designation for threatened bearded, ringed seals-InfoLens
Judge in Alaska sets aside critical habitat designation for threatened bearded, ringed seals
View Date:2024-12-23 12:01:46
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A judge in Alaska has set aside a federal agency’s action designating an area the size of Texas as critical habitat for two species of threatened Arctic Alaska seals.
U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason last week found the National Marine Fisheries Service did not explain why the entire 174-million-acre (70-million-hectare) area was “indispensable” to the recovery of the ringed and bearded seal populations. Gleason said the agency “abused its discretion” by not considering any protected areas to exclude or how other nations are conserving both seal populations, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
She vacated the critical habitat designation, which included waters extending from St. Matthew Island in the Bering Sea to the edge of Canadian waters in the Arctic, and sent the matter back to the agency for further work.
The decision came in a lawsuit brought by the state of Alaska, which claimed the 2022 designation was overly broad and could hamper oil and gas development in the Arctic and shipping to North Slope communities.
Julie Fair, a spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said the agency was reviewing the decision.
Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor said the protected areas had no sound basis in science.
“The federal government uses the same tactics again and again to prevent the people of Alaska from using their own land and resources,” he said in a statement. “They identify an area or activity they wish to restrict, and they declare it unusable under the guise of conservation or preservation.”
Bearded and ringed seals give birth and rear their pups on the ice. They were listed as threatened in 2012 amid concerns with anticipated sea ice declines in the coming decades. The state, North Slope Borough and oil industry groups challenged the threatened species designation, but the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately declined to hear that case.
Gleason said the Endangered Species Act bars from being authorized actions that would likely jeopardize a threatened species. Given that, “an interim change” vacating the critical habitat designation would not be so disruptive, she said.
veryGood! (6)
Related
- Black and Latino families displaced from Palm Springs neighborhood reach $27M tentative settlement
- 2 Black TikTok workers claim discrimination: Both were fired after complaining to HR
- Wisconsin DNR defends lack of population goal in wolf management plan
- Olympic bobsled medalist Aja Evans files lawsuit alleging sexual abuse
- 13 Skincare Gifts Under $50 That Are Actually Worth It
- Man who sold black rhino and white rhino horns to confidential source sentenced to 18 months in U.S. prison
- See Kim Kardashian Officially Make Her American Horror Story: Delicate Debut
- 'I'm not a dirty player': Steelers S Minkah Fitzpatrick opens up about Nick Chubb hit
- The charming Russian scene-stealers of 'Anora' are also real-life best friends
- Former US Sen. Dick Clark, an Iowa Democrat known for helping Vietnam War refugees, has died at 95
Ranking
- Research reveals China has built prototype nuclear reactor to power aircraft carrier
- 'My friends did everything right': Injured Grand Canyon hiker says he was not abandoned on trail
- Rupert Murdoch, creator of Fox News, stepping down as head of News Corp. and Fox Corp.
- Kylie Jenner Accidentally Reveals Sweet Timothée Chalamet Selfie on Her Phone Lock Screen
- Some women are stockpiling Plan B and abortion pills. Here's what experts have to say.
- Lionel Messi leaves with fatigue, Inter Miami routs Toronto FC to keep playoff hopes alive
- 3-year-old dies while crossing Rio Grande
- Novels from US, UK, Canada and Ireland are finalists for the Booker Prize for fiction
Recommendation
-
Louisiana asks court to block part of ruling against Ten Commandments in classrooms
-
Minnesota murder suspect still on the run 1 week after being accidentally released from Indiana jail
-
Which 2-0 NFL teams are for real? Ranking all nine by Super Bowl contender legitimacy
-
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds says her husband has lung cancer
-
Ford agrees to pay up to $165 million penalty to US government for moving too slowly on recalls
-
Medical debt could be barred from ruining your credit score soon
-
Voting for long-delayed budget begins in North Carolina legislature
-
Pakistan will hold parliamentary elections at the end of January, delaying a vote due in November