"New cases, shifting strategies, and the uncertainty of a reshuffled bench"
"Six years ago, the Obama administration tagged 1,500 acres of private Louisiana land as “critical habitat” for the dusky gopher frog, one of the world’s most-endangered animals. The pond-studded tract is in the three-inch-long amphibian’s historic range, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service noted. The habitat, the agency said, would be a good spot for a breeding population, should a group of the 100-odd remaining duskies relocate from Mississippi.
In July 2017, Weyerhaeuser, a timber company, petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn this decision. It argued that no dusky gopher frog would naturally travel 50 miles to the Louisiana site from the nearest pond where the species remained in Mississippi. The company could lose up to $34 million if it can’t freely develop or log the tract.
The Endangered Species Act gives federal wildlife officials the power to include private land in a critical habitat designation, says Bill Snape, senior counsel at the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, which has joined the case on the government’s side. “The question here is whether the agency used that authority rationally.”"
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