April 8, 2024
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service (Services) issued final rules that change federal interagency consultations under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Key among these rule changes is a new compensatory mitigation provision that allows the Services to prescribe compensatory mitigation or offsets deemed “reasonable and prudent” for minimizing the impact of incidental take on listed wildlife. Other changes loosen interpretation of the “reasonably certain to occur” standard for identifying effects of an action subject to analysis.