SEATTLE – A federal judge Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit in which building and farm groups had challenged the federal listing of Puget Sound’s resident killer whale population as an endangered species.
U.S. District Judge Thomas S. Zilly dismissed the lawsuit, filed by the Building Industry Association of Washington and the Washington Farm Bureau, with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled.
The BIAW and the farm bureau failed to prove they had standing in the case – that is, they failed to prove “perceptible harm” from the listing, Zilly wrote.
Their standing had been challenged by environmental groups represented by Earthjustice, an environmental law group.
“I think the holidays have come a little bit early for orcas in Puget Sound,” said Earthjustice attorney Steve Mashuda. “I think it’s unfortunate that the Building Industry Association of Washington has a different vision of Puget Sound – and that vision is one that doesn’t include orcas.”
“We’re surprised,” said lawyer Russell C. Brooks with the Pacific Legal Foundation, which represented the plaintiffs.
No decision has been made on whether to appeal, Brooks said.
“I think it’s a sad state of affairs when you have environmental players who can claim some sort of spiritual connection to whatever species du jour of the day is concerned, but yet you have people who are seeking to make an honest living and apparently their concerns won’t get them in the courthouse door,” Brooks said.
The National Marine Fisheries Service listed the whales for protection in November 2005.
The lawsuit said the listing “will result in needless water and land use restrictions on Washington farms, especially those located near rivers inhabited by salmon,” the orcas’ prime food source. “As a result, farmers could face fines and even imprisonment for the most basic farm practices should such actions allegedly disturb salmon.” Environmentalists called that scenario far-fetched.
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