PLF lawsuit seeks to start process to drop beetle from ESA list

Attorneys with Pacific Legal Foundation today filed a lawsuit asking that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) be ordered to start the process of dropping the valley elderberry longhorn beetle (VELB) from the U.S. Endangered Species Act list. Filed in federal court in Sacramento, the lawsuit aims to compel FWS to take the first step toward delisting – i.e., issuing a "finding" on whether to move forward with the delisting process. A study by FWS several years ago indicated the beetle is not threatened, but FWS never followed up with a finding based on that study, so the delisting process has never gotten started. The case is North Sacramento Land Company v. Salazar.