Wildlife Agency Must Redo Study for California Housing Project

A proposed housing development in Chico, Calif., was blocked by a federal court because the US Fish and Wildlife Service failed to adequately study the implications of climate change on endangered species when assessing the project’s environmental impacts.

The biological opinion FWS prepared for the Stonegate Development Project didn’t comply the Endangered Species Act and the Administrative Procedure Act because it didn’t analyze growing threats to several listed species, including the vernal pool fairy shrimp and giant garter snake, in the development area, the US District Court for the Eastern District of California said Thursday.

The agency’s general references to ...