A district court denied an environmental group's motion for summary judgment in a challenge to FWS' 2019 decision to reclassify the American burying beetle under the ESA from endangered to threatened. The group argued the Service violated the ESA by downlisting the beetle based on inadequate data and by issuing a §4(d) rule that failed to conserve the beetle's population, and that the downlisting was arbitrary and capricious. The court found the group did not identify any data that the Service withheld, and that its attempt to show the rule would not conserve the beetle was based only on contrary interpretations of evidence the Service considered. It further found that downlisting was rational and supported by the record because the Service's interpretation of the ESA was at least permissible and thus entitled to deference, and because the group did not identify any flaws in the Service's consideration of the evidence to suggest it arbitrarily weighed or failed to consider evidence that the beetle faced a risk of extinction sooner than expected. It denied summary judgment for the group, and granted FWS' cross-motion.

The Sixth Circuit affirmed dismissal of a lawsuit concerning a dam collapse in Michigan. Property owners who live downstream of the dam argued the U.S. government negligently entrusted operation of the dam to an unfit operator. A district court held the government was entitled to sovereign immunity and dismissed the suit for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The appellate court agreed, finding that §803(c) of the Federal Power Act imposes liability on the licensees who build and manage hydropower projects, not the government. It dismissed the suit.

A district court granted in part and denied in part summary judgment for environmental groups in a CWA/SMCRA citizen suit concerning the discharge of pollutants from surface coal mines in West Virginia. The groups argued a coal mining company violated the CWA by discharging mining pollutants at Rush Creek Surface Mine No. 2 and KD Surface Mine No. 1 without an NPDES permit, violated the CWA by failing to satisfy reporting requirements under its NPDES permit at the Rush Creek Surface Mine, and violated SMCRA through the same conduct. The court found the company violated the CWA and SMCRA between November 26, 2021, and April 14, 2023, by discharging pollutants from Rush Creek Surface Mine No. 2 without a valid permit, and failed to satisfy the reporting requirements for Rush Creek Surface Mine from November 2021 through November 2022. But it did not find that the company was in continuing violation of either act, because it subsequently obtained a permit for all outfalls and monitoring stations and was submitting the reports required under that permit.

The Second Circuit affirmed summary judgment for NMFS in a challenge to its 2020 allocation rule setting summer flounder quotas for eleven states. The state of New York argued that by failing to allocate a higher quota to New York, the rule failed to account for the long-term movement of summer flounder northward, in violation of several of the Magnuson-Stevens Act's (MSA's) national standards. A district court rejected the state's argument and granted summary judgment for NMFS. The appellate court concluded that NMFS properly considered the national standards outlined in the MSA when it set the quotas through the allocation rule, and affirmed summary judgment for the Service.

The Fifth Circuit reversed a district court ruling upholding the Army Corps of Engineers' decision to issue a CWA §404 permit to fill wetlands for a commercial and residential development project in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. Parish residents and environmental groups argued the Corps' decision violated NEPA and the CWA. The district court granted summary judgment for the Corps, holding its decision did not violate either act. On appeal, plaintiffs argued the EA failed to meaningfully consider the project's potential impacts, including cumulative impacts, in violation of both NEPA and the CWA. The appellate court found the Corps failed to explain how it determined the impacts would not rise to the level of significant, and thus acted arbitrarily in relying on its EA to issue a FONSI. It further found that because the EA determined the project would have some level of incremental impact on the environment, it was arbitrary and capricious for the Corps to limit its cumulative impacts analysis. The court reversed and vacated the district court ruling, enjoined the Corps from issuing a §404 permit until the district court issues further orders, and remanded to the Corps to reassess the significance of the project.

The Ninth Circuit, 2-1, denied environmental groups' petition to review the Bonneville Power Administration's (BPA's) decision setting power rates for the 2022-2023 fiscal period. The groups argued BPA violated the Northwest Power Act (NWPA) by setting rates that failed to comply with its duty to provide equitable treatment for fish and wildlife. The court found that the provision imposing this duty did not mention ratemaking, and therefore did not apply. It denied the petition.