https://www.nevadacurrent.com/blog/litigation-is-about-more-than-...

https://www.nevadacurrent.com/blog/litigation-is-about-more-than-protecting-species-group-says/

Last week the Center for Biological Diversity scored a victory in their efforts to protect a rare buckwheat plant they believe would be harmed by a proposed open-pit mine.

The group sued the federal government under the Endangered Species Act, and successfully reached a temporary settlement with an Australian mining company and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) preventing new ground-disturbing activities for 35 days— enough time to give the court time to hear a motion for a preliminary injunction.

In it’s 30 year history, the Center has gained protections for everything from the Lane Mountain milkvetch, a small plant the grows only in the West Mojave desert, to beluga whales in Alaska’s Cook Inlet through targeted litigation.

“Some say our litigation is frivolous but we’ve won most of our cases,” said Patrick Donnelly, the Nevada state director of the Center for Biological Diversity.

Those cases have forced the federal government to list 762 species under the Endangered Species Act and protect more than 725 million acres of habitat from Alaska to Florida.

With about 70 attorneys, one hundred and eighty staff members and 1,275 lawsuits, Donnelly said the Center is known for its litigation tactics.