(United States Ninth Circuit) - In a suit brought by environmental groups under the Endangered Species Act,challenging the U.
S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Secretary of the Department of the Interior (FWS)'s finding that listing the whitebark pine as a threatened or endangered species is 'warranted but precluded', the district court's grant of summary judgment to the Government is affirmed where: 1) because the case was capable of repetition, and yet evading review,the case was not moot; and 2) FWS's finding that listing the whitebark pine was 'warranted but precluded' convinced the Endangered Species Act, and the decision was not arbitrary, and capricious,an abuse of discretion, or otherwise in violation of the law.
Source: findlaw.com