News & Analysis In the Courts

Volume 54 Issue 2

A district court granted in part and denied in part federal agencies' motion for remand and partial vacatur in a challenge to a decision granting a right-of-way for construction of a new highway through the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area in Utah, a critical habitat for the Mojave Desert torto...

Keywords:
Wildlife (generally)

A district court granted FWS' motion for partial voluntary remand in a challenge to its decision to list the eastern black rail as threatened instead of endangered. Environmental groups argued FWS' decision, and related determination that designation of critical habitat for the rail was "not prudent...

Keywords:
Threatened species listing

A district court dismissed a civil rights challenge to St. James Parish's adoption of a land use plan in 2014. Nonprofit and religious groups argued their members were residents of the Parish descended from formerly enslaved people whose civil liberties, property rights, and religious rights were vi...

Keywords:
Civil rights claims

A district court granted in part and denied in part environmental groups' motion to preliminarily enjoin the state of Montana's wolf trapping and snaring season as authorized by recently approved regulations. The groups argued the regulations, which expanded both the length of the season and the geo...

Keywords:
Prohibited acts, §9

The Fifth Circuit, 2-1, granted six small refineries' petitions to review an EPA decision denying their requested exemptions from obligations under the CAA Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program. The refineries challenged two actions—EPA's denial of 36 petitions from 36 small refineries seeking exe...

Keywords:
Fuels regulation, §211

In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that granted two cities' motion to remand to state court climate liability suits brought against five oil and gas companies. The cities of San Francisco and Oakland initially sued the companies in state court, arguing the ...

Keywords:
Climate Change (generally)

The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for an environmental group in a suit against a California resident who engaged in instream suction dredge mining in Idaho’s South Fork Clearwater River without an NPDES permit. The group argued the resident violated the CWA each time he operated a suctio...

Keywords:
Dredge and fill, §404, National pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit program, 402