UNITED STATES NEWS

Geothermal developer wants to delist endangered Nevada toad

Mar 24, 2023, 1:25 PM

RENO, Nev. (AP) — In an unusual move that could pit two Biden administration agencies against each other, the developer of a planned Nevada geothermal power plant says it intends to sue U.S wildlife officials to overturn the endangered species listing of a toad in adjacent wetlands.

Ormat Technologies said in a 60-day notice of its intent to sue the Interior Department’s Fish and Wildlife Service that the listing of the Dixie Valley toad in December was illegal.

“The toad does not meet the definitional standard for a threatened — let alone endangered — species, and the service failed to base its decision on the best scientific and commercial data available,” Reno-based Ormat said.

It’s the latest legal maneuver in a series of conflicts underscoring challenges President Joe Biden faces in vowing to protect fish and wildlife while also pushing development of so-called green energy projects on U.S. lands to help combat climate change.

A court battle over the toad’s listing would put the administration in the precarious position of using its Justice Department lawyers to defend the wildlife service’s decision to list the toad, while continuing to defend the Bureau of Land Management’s approval of the geothermal project in a lawsuit brought by conservationists and a tribe.

The Interior Department, which oversees the Fish and Wildlife Service and the BLM, had no comment, spokesman Tyler Cherry said.

The project planned about 100 miles (161 kilometer) east of Reno is among three in Nevada at the forefront of Biden’s push to speed the transition from greenhouse-emitting fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources.

The other two, which also face opposition from environmentalists and/or Native American tribes, are lithium mines intended to produce a key element in electric vehicle batteries.

The Center for Biological Diversity and Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe first sued the BLM in federal court in Reno in January 2022 seeking to block construction of the geothermal plant — a case that’s already made one trip to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Ormat is a formal intervenor in that case, with its own lawyers arguing alongside the Justice Department lawyers representing the BLM.

The opponents say pumping hot water from beneath the earth’s surface to generate carbon-free power would adversely affect levels and temperatures of surface water critical to the survival of the toad, which is sacred to the tribe.

The service concluded in its listing decision that the geothermal project posed the single biggest threat to the toad and that “threatened species status is not appropriate because the threat of extinction is imminent.”

The decision came after the agency temporarily listed the speckled, quarter-sized amphibian on an emergency basis in April 2022, which marked only the second time in 20 years it had taken such emergency action.

The notice gives the wildlife service 60 days to “come into compliance” with the Endangered Species Act or face a lawsuit seeking to rescind the listing.

“The species is not currently in danger of extinction,” Jessica Woelfel, Ormat’s general counsel, wrote Wednesday.

The listing was “based on an outdated project design, inflated possible harms and disregard for Ormat’s mitigation plan,” Woelfel wrote. She said it doesn’t reflect a scaled back plan to initially build a much smaller 12 megawatt power plant, instead of two capable to producing 60MW.

Patrick Donnelly, the Center for Biological Diversity’s Great Basin director, said the organization is confident the listing will hold up in court.

’“There’s widespread consensus among government and independent scientists that this geothermal project puts the Dixie Valley toad at risk of extinction,” Donnelly said. “The only ones who disagree are those on Ormat’s payroll or at the Bureau of Land Management.”

Last summer, the San Francisco-based appellate court refused to grant a temporary injunction blocking construction of the power plant the bureau approved in December 2021.

But just hours after that ruling, Ormat announced that it had agreed to temporarily suspend all work on the project until this year. Then, in late October, the company asked for the case to be put on hold while it developed a smaller plan in anticipation of the endangered species listing.

Ormat said in its notice of intent to sue that the wildlife service knew the company was in the process of scaling back the size of the initial project when the agency issued the listing decision.

“As a result of Ormat’s proposal, BLM rescinded the 60 MW project approval and issued a new one for 12 MW … just days after the final listing rule,” the letter said.

“Any assessment of risk associated with a project five times larger than the approved project capacity is completely irrelevant,” it said. “A 60 MW project cannot currently threaten the (toad) because it literally does not exist.”

United States News

Associated Press

Judge rejects calls to halt winter construction work on Willow oil project in Alaska during appeal

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A federal judge in Alaska on Friday rejected requests from environmental groups to halt winter construction work for the massive Willow oil project on Alaska’s North Slope while the groups’ legal fight over the drilling project wages on. U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason just last month upheld the Biden administration’s […]

1 hour ago

FILE - Rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. Frank Rocco Giustino, who skippe...

Associated Press

Lawsuits against Trump over Jan. 6 riot can move forward, appeals court rules

Lawsuits against Donald Trump over the U.S. Capitol riot can move forward, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday.

1 hour ago

Associated Press

Former Colombian military officer accused in base bombing extradited to Florida

MIAMI (AP) — A former Colombian military officer accused of injuring dozens, including three U.S. soldiers, in a bombing attack at a Colombian military base has been extradited to South Florida. A five-count indictment against Andres Fernando Medina Rodriguez, 39, was unsealed Friday in Miami federal court, according to court records. A federal grand jury […]

3 hours ago

Associated Press

Los Angeles police searching for suspect in three fatal shootings of homeless people

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles police are searching for a suspect in the fatal shootings of three homeless people in separate incidents around the city, authorities announced Friday. All three shootings occurred in the early morning hours over several days in November, Police Chief Michel Moore said at a news conference along with Mayor […]

3 hours ago

Associated Press

US expels an ex-Chilean army officer accused of a folk singer’s torture and murder

MIAMI (AP) — The U.S. has expelled a former Chilean Army officer accused of torturing and killing folk singer Victor Jara during the country’s bloody 1973 coup. Pedro Barrientos had emigrated to Florida in 1990, the same year the bloody dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet came to an end. This year, he was stripped of […]

3 hours ago

Associated Press

Guest lineups for the Sunday news shows

WASHINGTON (AP) — ABC’s “This Week” — White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby; Ron Dermer, Israeli minister of strategic affairs; Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla. ___ NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Kirby; Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate; Allyson Felix, Olympic gold medalist and Black maternal health advocate. ___ CBS’ “Face the […]

4 hours ago

Sponsored Articles

Follow @KTAR923...

Valley residents should be mindful of plumbing ahead of holidays

With Halloween in the rear-view and more holidays coming up, Day & Night recommends that Valley residents prepare accordingly.

...

Dierdre Woodruff

Interest rates may have peaked. Should you buy a CD, high-yield savings account, or a fixed annuity?

Interest rates are the highest they’ve been in decades, and it looks like the Fed has paused hikes. This may be the best time to lock in rates for long-term, low-risk financial products like fixed annuities.

...

Midwestern University

Midwestern University: innovating Arizona health care education

Midwestern University’s Glendale Campus near Loop 101 and 59th Avenue is an established leader in health care education and one of Arizona’s largest and most valuable health care resources.

Geothermal developer wants to delist endangered Nevada toad