Mealey's (July 15, 2015, 1:54 PM EDT) -- WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 22 denied review of an federal appeals court’s ruling that water diversions approved by a Texas state agency violated the Endangered Species Act by lowering water levels and water quality in the winter habitat of the whooping crane (The Aransas Project v. Bryan Shaw, et al., No. 14-1138, U.S. Sup.).

The Aransas Project alleged that when the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality allowed water diversions from the Guadalupe and San Antonio rivers, it lowered freshwater levels in...