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Legislative Process Keyed to Bressman, 4th Ed.
Babbitt v. Sweet Home Chapter of Communities for a Great Oregon
Citation:
515 U.S. 687 (1995)Facts
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 prohibits any person from “taking” any endangered or threatened species. The term “take” is defined to include “harm,” which the Secretary of the Interior interpreted through regulation to include “significant habitat modification or degradation where it actually kills or injures wildlife by significantly impairing essential behavioral patterns, including breeding, feeding or sheltering.” The respondents, representing small landowners, logging companies, and families dependent on forest products industries, brought a facial challenge to this regulation, arguing that it exceeded the Secretary’s authority under the Act. They claimed the regulation caused them economic injury by preventing logging activities that would affect the habitats of the red-cockaded woodpecker and the northern spotted owl, both protected species. The respondents contended that “take” should be limited to direct applications of force against animals, not indirect harm through habitat modification.
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