by John M. Simpson.<\/p>\n
In a move that could have significant effect with respect to the federal wildlife laws and regulations administered by the Department of the Interior, the Secretary of the Interior recently reaffirmed “the\u00a0authority of the States to exercise their broad trustee and police powers as stewards of the Nation’s fish and wildlife species on public lands and\u00a0waters under the jurisdiction of the Department.”\u00a0\u00a0This action, stated in a September 10, 2018 memorandum to\u00a0“Heads\u00a0of Bureaus and Offices,” cited to the Department’s\u00a0policy on\u00a0state-federal relationships, 43 C.F.R., Part 24, and stressed that\u00a0“State authority regarding fish and resident wildlife remains the comprehensive backdrop applicable in the absence of specific, overriding Federal law.\u00a0 This 35-year-old rule is more relevant today than ever.”\u00a0 Based upon the “full recognition of the State fish and wildlife agencies to regulate fish and resident wildlife within their respective boundaries and jurisdictions,” the Secretary directed that:<\/p>\n
\u2666Within 45 days, Department Bureaus and Offices\u00a0shall identify all Department regulations, policies and guidance on\u00a0fish and wildlife that are “more restrictive than otherwise applicable State provisions;”<\/p>\n
\u2666Within 90 days, each Bureau and Office shall report\u00a0to the Deputy Secretary its recommendations to “better align” the identified federal rules with State provisions; and<\/p>\n
\u2666Within 120 days, the Deputy Secretary shall consult with the relevant State authorities as to these recommendations and deliver an implementation plan to the Secretary.<\/p>\n
It is not clear where this initiative is headed.\u00a0 Will the Department rely upon State laws and State authorities for the protection of, for example, endangered or threatened species?\u00a0 Will federal standards in these areas that have been traditionally more restrictive or protective of species than State laws be adjusted to be commensurate with the standards imposed by State law?\u00a0 Will the Department look to State authorities to have a greater or even primary role in the enforcement of federal laws such as the Endangered Species Act?\u00a0 Regardless of what the Department’s ultimate\u00a0implementation plan may be, how much of it can be carried out without congressional action or a notice-and-comment rulemaking?\u00a0 The time table specified indicates that these matters will come to head within the next four months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by John M. Simpson. In a move that could have significant effect with respect to the federal wildlife laws and regulations administered by the Department of the Interior, the Secretary of the Interior recently reaffirmed “the\u00a0authority of the States to exercise their broad trustee and police powers as stewards of the Nation’s fish and wildlife … <\/p>\n
Continue reading “Interior Secretary Underscores State Role in Fish and Wildlife Regulation”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":317,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[150,6,5,151],"ppma_author":[697],"class_list":["post-106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-department-of-the-interior","tag-endangered-species-act","tag-john-simpson","tag-state-federal-relationships"],"authors":[{"term_id":697,"user_id":317,"is_guest":0,"slug":"jmsimpson","display_name":"John M. Simpson","avatar_url":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/animallawdevelopments\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/38\/2018\/06\/simpsonjohn-125x150.jpg","author_category":"","last_name":"Simpson","first_name":"John M.","job_title":"","user_url":"https:\/\/www.duanemorris.com\/attorneys\/johnmsimpson.html","description":"Read John's bio.<\/a>"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/animallawdevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/animallawdevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/animallawdevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/animallawdevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/317"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/animallawdevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/animallawdevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/animallawdevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/animallawdevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/animallawdevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/animallawdevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}