New, unusual court bid in fight over endangered Nevada toad
In a highly unusual move in a legal battle over a Nevada geothermal power plant and an endangered toad, the project’s developer is asking a judge to allow it to scale back by 80% the original plan U.S. land managers approved last November
RENO, Nev. (AP) — In a highly unusual move in a legal battle over a Nevada geothermal power plant and an endangered toad, the project’s developer is now asking a judge to allow it to scale back by 80% the original plan U.S. land managers approved last November.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Ormat Technologies both filed requests to put the case on hold, citing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's listing of the Dixie Valley toad in April as endangered on a temporary, emergency basis.
“Significant factual developments have fundamentally changed the nature of this litigation," government lawyers wrote Oct. 27 in a formal motion to stay the case in federal court in Reno.
Ormat joined the request in a filing on Monday, agreeing the “legal landscape” had changed with the temporary listing of the toad — something the agency has done on an emergency basis only twice in the past 20 years.
