Appellate Review of Facts Raised in Petition To Supreme Court in Whooping Cranes Case

摘要

A Texas environmental advocacy group asked the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether an appeals court improperly reweighed facts when it ruled that water withdrawals authorized by the state did not proximately cause whooping crane deaths (Aransas Project v. Shaw, U.S., No. 14-1138, 3/16/15). The case involves an Endangered Species Act citizen suit filed by the Aransas Project, an alliance of citizens, organizations, businesses and municipalities who advocate certain water management policies for the Guada-lupe River Basin and the bays in Texas. They argued that water withdrawal permits issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality reduced freshwater flows to the endangered whooping cranes' habitat in the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.