A district court granted in part and denied in part a mining company's motion to dismiss a lawsuit concerning a proposed open-pit copper-nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota. Environmental groups argued FWS and the Army Corps of Engineers violated the ESA by failing to reinitiate consultation in re...
The Tenth Circuit reversed a district court ruling that affirmed BLM's environmental impact analysis for 370 applications for permits to drill (APDs) for oil and gas in New Mexico's San Juan Basin. Environmental groups argued that BLM's 81 EAs and EA addendum violated NEPA because the Bureau imprope...
A district court granted in part and denied in part cross-motions for summary judgment in a challenge to BLM's approval of a new open-pit phosphate mine in southeast Idaho. Environmental groups argued the approval violated NEPA, FLPMA, and the CWA. The court found BLM failed to adequately consider t...
A district court denied summary judgment for commercial fishermen and a trade group in a lawsuit concerning NMFS' allocation of red grouper fishing privileges in the Gulf of Mexico among recreational and commercial fishermen. Plaintiffs argued that Amendment 53 to the fishery management plan for ree...
The Ninth Circuit, 2-1, affirmed summary judgment for FWS in a lawsuit concerning a petition to amend the Service's 1993 recovery plan for the endangered grizzly bear. An environmental group petitioned FWS, proposing additional recovery areas in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Utah that it argu...
A district court denied a civil rights group's motion for summary judgment in a challenge to the Federal Highway Administration's (FHwA's) approval of a categorical exclusion for a highway improvement project in Pennsylvania. The group argued the approval violated NEPA. The court found the group fai...
The Ninth Circuit granted in part and denied in part petitions to review EPA's 2019 amended registration of the pesticide sulfoxaflor. Environmental groups alleged that the registration, which unconditionally approved new uses of sulfoxaflor requested by the company that created the pesticide, viola...
The Fourth Circuit affirmed dismissal of a challenge to CEQ's 2020 final rule that affected how federal agencies conduct reviews under NEPA. Environmental groups filed suit shortly after the rule was promulgated and several weeks before it took effect, bringing nine APA claims and one allegation tha...
A district court granted in part and denied in part an animal sanctuary's motion to dismiss an ESA citizen suit brought by an animal rights group. The group alleged the sanctuary violated the ESA by taking endangered or threatened species, unlawfully possessing ESA-protected animals, and unlawfully ...