Fifth Circuit Judges Question Timing of Environmental Groups' Intervention in Prairie Chicken Case

During a Tuesday hearing, a Fifth Circuit panel considered whether the Center for Biological Diversity and Texas Campaign for the Environment should have been permitted to intervene after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service nullified a 2022 rule that listed two populations of the Lesser Prairie Chicken as threatened and endangered. The groups contend that the government's abrupt reversal, prompted by the Trump administration’s admission of error, denied them a meaningful chance to challenge the decision.

Attorney Jason Rylander warned that such “backroom” settlements erode public scrutiny and could leave fewer than 5,000 birds in New Mexico and Texas without protection. Opposing counsel, including industry and state attorneys, argued the groups acted too late and that allowing intervention would disrupt settlement efforts. Federal attorney Emily Polachek supported the denial, citing the agency’s need to correct an unlawful rule. The judges, split on procedural questions, left the timing issue unresolved and did not set a date for a final decision.