The D.C. Circuit affirmed summary judgment for FWS in a lawsuit concerning its denial of a nonprofit group's permit applications to export four blue iguanas to a Danish zoo and to continue a captive-bred wildlife program at its Arizona facility. A district court saw no problem with FWS' denials and ...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for DOI and a Native American tribe in a lawsuit brought by a nearby tribe challenging DOI's decision that the former tribe's proposed casino on newly acquired off-reservation land would not be detrimental to the surrounding community. The plaintiff tribe ...

In an unpublished opinion, the D.C. Circuit affirmed dismissal of a challenge to FWS' failure to provide notice and comment on its guidelines for creating species status assessments. An environmental group had argued that FWS violated the ESA by failing to put the guidelines through notice and comme...

The Ninth Circuit reversed summary judgment for FWS in a challenge to the Service's rule requiring that affected states receive a 30-day notice of intent to file a petition to list an endangered species. An environmental group argued that FWS violated the ESA by impermissibly requiring the 30-day no...

In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the Forest Service in a lawsuit concerning domestic sheep grazing in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. Environmental groups argued the Service violated the National Forest Management Act, NEPA, and the APA by utilizin...

A district court granted an environmental group's motion for preliminary injunction in a challenge to FWS' alleged allowance of commercial horseshoe crab harvesting in the Cape Romain Wildlife Refuge. The group argued the Service violated the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act (Refuge I...

A district court denied a Native American tribe's request to limit water releases from the Upper Klamath Lake to protect two endangered sucker fish species. The tribe argued that the Bureau of Reclamation's plan to regulate water in the Klamath Basin violated the ESA by allowing the lake's water lev...

The Ninth Circuit reversed a district court's partial grant of summary judgment for cattle ranchers in a challenge to the Forest Service's decision to apply 1995 riparian mitigation measures to an allotment in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. The ranchers argued that the Service's decision ...

A district court granted in part and denied in part BLM's and FWS' motion to dismiss a lawsuit over an environmental group's petition to list a rare wildflower species in Nevada as endangered. The group first argued FWS unreasonably delayed responding to its request for emergency listing of Tiehm's ...

A district court vacated and remanded FWS' and the Forest Service's approval of the first phase of a proposed copper and silver mine beneath the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness. Tribal and environmental groups argued the agencies violated the ESA by failing to reinitiate consultation on the mine's impa...