The Ninth Circuit held that BLM’s approval of a wind-energy development project in southeastern Oregon failed to adequately address impacts to the greater sage grouse in violation of NEPA. The challenged project entails the construction of wind turbines and a right-of-way across a sagebrush landsc...

A district court vacated two FWS depredation orders reauthorizing the killing of double-crested cormorants in certain states. The court previously held that FWS violated NEPA when it reissued the orders. At issue here was the remedy. FWS argued that remand without vacatur was appropriate, whereas pl...

A district court, in a 149-page opinion, held that the government violated the ESA and NEPA when it approved its 2014 biological opinion (BiOp) for the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) and its impact on salmon and steelhead. The FCRPS consists of hydroelectric dams, powerhouses, and assoc...

The Ninth Circuit held that FDA properly withheld certain information concerning egg-production farms in Texas that was requested by an animal rights group under FOIA. FOIA Exemption 4 applies to “trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confid...

A district court held that FWS violated NEPA when it reissued two orders authorizing the killing of double-crested cormorants in certain states. FWS issued an EA and FONSI for the orders rather than an EIS. But the EA is insufficient to justify FWS' FONSI because FWS did not take the requisite “ha...

A district court remanded a portion of FWS’ addendum to a 2007 biological opinion concerning the incidental take of grizzly bears in the Grand Teton National Park. In 2007, FWS and the National Park Service (NPS) issued a joint 15-year management plan for bison and elk herds that migrate across th...

A district court held that FWS violated the ESA when it decided not to list the wolverine as a threatened species. FWS proposed to list the wolverine in 2013, but then changed course in 2014 and withdrew the proposal; this lawsuit followed. The court ruled against the agency, holding that FWS erred ...

A district court dismissed conservation groups' lawsuit challenging FWS' and DOI's decision to issue permits authorizing two American hunters to import the trophies they garnered in legal hunts of black rhinoceros in Namibia. The groups argued that issuance of the permits violated the APA, ESA, and ...

The Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court decision vacating FWS' designation of critical habitat in Alaska for the polar bear, a threatened species, and reinstated the designation. The designation encompasses sea ice, terrestrial denning, and barrier island habitat. Oil and gas associations, several ...

A district court denied a motion to amend its prior ruling vacating FWS' listing of the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species under the ESA. FWS argued that the court should have remanded, rather than vacated, the rule. It claimed that there is a serious possibility that its decision to lis...