Petition to delist Bearded Seal 

Background: The Resource Development Council for Alaska, Inc., along with the Alaska Chamber and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, filed an amici curiae before the Supreme Court in support of the State of Alaska appealing the National Marine Fisheries Service’s listing of the Beringia population of bearded seals as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. 

The listing of a species as threatened when it is currently healthy and exists in abundance, based solely on projections that it will suffer from speculative habitat loss in 100 years, removes all meaningful barriers to listing under the ESA.  The Ninth Circuit’s decision has laid the groundwork for hundreds of future ESA climate change listings based only on projections of events many decades in the future.  As Petitioners have demonstrated, the Ninth Circuit’s decision violates the text and purpose of the ESA.  If left intact, it will also inflict serious economic harm on the State of Alaska and its residents.

Below are pdf documents of the appeal to the U.S. Supreme court by the State of Alaska, as well as accompanying amicus briefs in support of the appeal. 

State of Alaska petition for a Writ of Certiorari (pdf)
Joined by: Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, North Slope Borough, NANA Regional Corporation, Inc., The Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, and Northwest Arctic Borough. 

RDC brief of amici curia (pdf)
Joined by: Alaska Chamber and U.S. Chamber of Commerce
RDC testimony in opposition to listing, March 7,2011 
RDC letter of opposition to listing, March 22, 2011

Alaska Federation of Natives amici curiae (pdf)

State of Wyoming (joined by 17 other states) amici curiae (pdf)