The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for FWS in a challenge to its combined EIS and comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) concerning the continued leasing of refuge land for farming in the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex. Environmental groups argued the EIS/CCP violated the Nat...

A district court granted summary judgment for conservation groups in a challenge to NMFS' 2021 issuance of a biological opinion (BiOp) and final rule concerning lobster fishing gear requirements and the endangered North Atlantic right whale. The groups argued the BiOp violated the ESA by allowing fo...

The First Circuit vacated a district court order preliminarily enjoining NOAA's partial seasonal closure of a Maine lobster fishery to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales. A fishing union argued the closure was an arbitrary and capricious application of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, a...

A district court dismissed a challenge to FWS rules delaying the effective date of a January 2021 rule that designated portions of Washington, Oregon, and California as critical habitat for the northern spotted owl. A trade group and counties throughout the Pacific Northwest sought to vacate the "de...

A district court vacated a series of regulations enacted in 2019 that modified how FWS and NMFS implement the ESA. Environmental groups, states, and cities argued the regulations violated the ESA, the APA, and NEPA. FWS and NMFS moved to remand without vacatur, arguing vacatur would cause confusion ...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed, 2-1, a district court's denial of a Native American group's motion to preliminarily enjoin a land exchange and prevent copper mining on land in Arizona. The group argued the land exchange violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), the Free Exercise Clause, and...

The D.C. Circuit granted in part and denied in part petitions to review FERC's order approving the Independent System Operator for New England's (ISO-NE's) tariff revisions that compensated power plants for maintaining up to three days' worth of fuel on-site to generate electricity during winter mon...

The D.C. Circuit upheld FERC's approval of a dam operator's flood protection plan for a nearby water pump station in North Carolina. A city petitioned for review of FERC's approval of the plan, a state-imposed condition of its water quality certification under the CWA, which involved raising the pum...