Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow v. United States Department of the Interior
A district court denied policy groups' request to preliminarily enjoin construction of a wind energy project off the coast of Virginia. The groups argued the project should be enjoined until NMFS updates its biological opinion to include an analysis of the cumulative effects of other offshore wind p...
Natural Resources Defense Council v. Haaland
The Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court ruling in favor of the Bureau of Reclamation and FWS in a challenge to the agencies' renewal of water supply contracts in California. Environmental groups argued that FWS conducted an inadequate consultation on the effects of the renewals on delta smelt an...
Sinclair Wyoming Refining Co. LLC v. Environmental Protection Agency
The D.C. Circuit rejected challenges to renewable fuels standards EPA set for 2020, 2021, and 2022. Cellulosic biofuel producers argued the standards were set too low, and petroleum refiners argued they were set too high. Specifically, the biofuel producers argued EPA misinterpreted or unreasonably ...
White v. United States Army Corps of Engineers
A district court granted summary judgment for a fisheries biologist in a challenge to the Army Corps of Engineers' flood control operations at a California dam. The biologist argued the operations, which released water from the dam into the Russian River, violated §9 of the ESA by unlawfully "takin...
National Wildlife Refuge Ass'n v. Rural Utilities Service
The Seventh Circuit reversed a district court's preliminary injunction prohibiting approval of a proposed land exchange in Wisconsin for construction of a high-voltage electric transmission line that would run through the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. The appellate court...
Keystone-Conemaugh Projects LLC v. United States Environmental Protection Agency
The Third Circuit denied power companies' petition to review EPA's issuance of a federal implementation plan (FIP) establishing nitrogen oxide (NOx) emission limits for selective catalytic reduction-equipped coal-fired electric generating units in Pennsylvania to address reasonably available control...
Oceana, Inc. v. Raimondo
A district court granted in part and denied in part summary judgment for a conservation group in a challenge to NMFS' management of the Pacific sardine under the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) and NEPA. The group argued NMFS' plan to rebuild the sardine population after it was declared overfished in 201...
Flathead-Lolo-Bitterroot Citizen Task Force v. Montana
The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and vacated in part a district court's preliminary injunction limiting wolf trapping and snaring in certain parts of Montana to January 1, 2024, through February 15, 2024. Nonprofit groups argued Montana's laws authorizing recreational wolf and coyote trapping and ...
Sierra Club v. Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality
The Fifth Circuit rejected an environmental group's challenge to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality's (LDEQ's) decision to issue preconstruction permits for a liquefied natural gas export facility in Cameron Parish. The group sought to have LDEQ's decision vacated, arguing the facilit...