Free Motion for Extension of Time to File Response/Reply - District Court of California - California

Case 3:07-cv-04771-EDL

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Filed 11/15/2007

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Declaration of Guillermo A. Montero NRDC v. Gutierrez, Case No. 07-4771-EDL

RONALD J. TENPAS Acting Assistant Attorney General Environment and Natural Resources Division UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE JEAN E. WILLIAMS, Chief KRISTEN L. GUSTAFSON, Senior Trial Attorney Wildlife and Marine Resources Section GUILLERMO MONTERO, Trial Attorney Natural Resources Section Environment & Natural Resources Division UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Benjamin Franklin Station - P.O. Box 7369/ P.O. Box 663 Washington, D.C. 20044 (202) 305-0211 (tel.) / (202) 305-0443 (tel.) (202) 305-0275 (fax)/ (202) 305-0274 (fax) [email protected] [email protected]

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION

) ) Civ. Action No. 07-4771-EDL ) Plaintiffs, ) DECLARATION OF ) GUILLERMO A. MONTERO v. ) ) CARLOS GUTIERREZ, SECRETARY ) OF THE UNITED STATES ) DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, et al. ) ) Defendants. ) ) ) ____________________________________)

NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL, INC., et al.,

Case 3:07-cv-04771-EDL

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I, Guillermo A. Montero, declare as follows pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746: 1. I am a member in good standing of the bar of Massachusetts, and I am employed as a

trial attorney with the United States Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division, Natural Resources Section. I am one of the attorneys of record assigned to represent the Federal Defendants in this action. I have personal knowledge of the facts stated herein and, if called upon to testify, I would testify that the facts set forth below are true and correct. 2. On October 12, 2007, Plaintiffs filed a motion for preliminary injunction in the above

captioned case. 3. On November 8, 2007, Plaintiffs and Defendants ("Parties"), filed a Stipulation to

Permit Plaintiffs and Defendants to Exceed the Page Limit and Modify Briefing Schedule Applicable to Defendants' Opposition to Preliminary Injunction Motion and Plaintiffs' Reply; 4. 5. On November 9, 2007, this Court issued an Order approving the Parties' Stipulation; Pursuant to that Stipulation, Federal Defendants' brief in opposition to Plaintiffs'

motion for preliminary injunction was due no later than 5pm EST, November 15, 2007. In addition, Federal Defendants were required to delivery service copies of the exhibits pertaining to that brief to Sarah Schindler, Bryan Jacobson, and Michael Jasny no later than November 15, 2007; 6. Federal Defendants have completed service of the exhibits, but were unable to

complete the filing of their opposition brief before 5 pm EST due to delays in executing several corresponding declarations and technical difficulties experienced while formatting the brief. Specifically, various declarants had limited availability as a result of their travel schedules and/or competing obligations, and their declarations could not be executed as a result until the afternoon of November 15, 2007. In addition, several of the declarations appear to be password protected, and will need to be scanned before they can be filed via the Electronic Case Filing System (ECF). Finally, counsel for Defendants experienced numerous technical difficulties while formatting Defendants' opposition brief and converting it into a format compatible with the ECF System.

Declaration of Guillermo A. Montero NRDC v. Gutierrez, Case No. 07-4771-EDL

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Case 3:07-cv-04771-EDL

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7.

Federal Defendants were able to complete filing of the brief and a number of the

supporting declarations by 8:30 pm EST, but continue to have difficulty with the four remaining declarations. 8. Federal Defendants believe that they will require an enlargement of time until 11 pm

EST (5 hours) in order to complete the filing; 9. Federal Defendants believe that the Plaintiffs will not be significantly prejudiced by

this enlargement because the opposition brief has already been filed and served via the ECF System. 10. Counsel for Federal Defendants attempted to contact counsel for the Plaintiffs by

telephone prior to filing this motion to determine whether a stipulation was possible, but were unable to reach Plaintiffs' counsel.

Executed this 15th day of November, 2007, in Washington, DC.

/s/ Guillermo A. Montero Guillermo A. Montero

Declaration of Guillermo A. Montero NRDC v. Gutierrez, Case No. 07-4771-EDL

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