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Defenders of Wildlife and Healthy Gulf won a critical victory for imperiled wildlife in and around the Gulf of Mexico when a district court ruled last night that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and NOAA Fisheries must engage in a prospective Endangered Species Act (ESA) consultation for the threatened and endangered species and critical habitat that are affected by Bonnet Carré Spillway openings.

In a new ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Cape Fear River Watch, North Carolina Wildlife Federation, and Defenders of Wildlife, represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center, succeeded in challenging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ unjustified decision to eliminate the agency’s longstanding practice of limiting hopper dredging at Wilmington and Morehead City Harbors to winter months.

Today Defenders of Wildlife, Cape Fear River Watch, and North Carolina Wildlife Federation, represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), filed a challenge against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ unlawful decision to eliminate highly successful seasonal limitations on hopper dredging projects that have protected sea turtles, fish species and other marine life for decades.

A large outbreak of highly toxic algae or “red tide” continues to impact Gulf Coast communities in Southwest Florida, resulting in the deaths of over 1,500 tons of marine life and fish, including manatees, goliath groupers, dolphins and endangered sea turtles along St. Petersburg and Pinellas County beaches.

Despite public opinion and science, the Biden administration continues to implement harmful Trump-era cuts to the Sea Turtle Science and Recovery Program (STSR) at Texas’ Padre Island National Seashore (PAIS), leaving endangered sea turtles even more vulnerable.