Endangered Species Act

• Effective 15 May 2006, the cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl was removed from the protection of the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). The pygmy-owl’s current and proposed critical habitat designations have also been rescinded (link to pdf ).  On 25 April 2006, a coalition of environmental groups served the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service a Notice of Intent to file a lawsuit challenging the delisting.  This coalition requested, and was granted, a 2 June 2006 hearing in U.S. District Court (Phoenix) to argue for an injunction to block the delisting for an extended period.  The presiding judge did not make an immediate ruling, and the outcome of this hearing may be unknown for some time.  
• Visit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Arizona Ecological Services Field Office for more information on federally-listed species (link).

Clean Water Act

• On 19 June 2006, the Supreme Court issued its decision in the case of
  Rapanos et ux., et al., v. United States (link to pdf ). Under debate was the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act, including Section 404, over some intermittent and ephemeral streams and their adjacent wetlands. The Rapanos Guidance has been announced by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency and is available at http://www.usace.army.mil/cw/cecwo/reg/cwa_guide/cwa_guide.htm.
• The new Nationwide Permits for Arizona including General Conditions, Regional Conditions and 401 Water Quality Certifications (State and Tribal) were issued in June 2007 (http://www.spl.usace.army.mil/regulatory/AZNWP_2007.pdf).

National Environmental Policy Act

• A NEPA Working Group has been formed with the mission of improvving environmental assessment as performed under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (http://www.naep.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=51).