A district court denied summary judgment for a citizen group in a challenge to NMFS' issuance of incidental harassment authorizations (IHAs) and a letter of authorization (LOA) to wind developers off the coast of New York and New Jersey. The group argued the IHAs and LOA, which authorize take o...
A district court denied summary judgment for a company that owns and manages Iowa farmland in a lawsuit concerning a federal wetland conservation law known as Swampbuster. The company challenged the program, which disqualifies one from receiving USDA farm benefits if they convert certified wetl...
A district court granted summary judgment for an environmental group in a challenge to FWS' 2023 12-month finding that Joshua trees were not warranted for listing under the ESA for the "foreseeable future." The group argued FWS violated the ESA because it failed to use best available science, i...
The Fifth Circuit, 2-1, reversed a district court's summary judgment for the State Department in a FOIA lawsuit seeking records related to the Department's efforts to support the 2030 emissions reduction target in the Paris Agreement. A nonprofit group submitted a 10-part FOIA request, seeking ...
The Fifth Circuit reversed a district court's dismissal of a discrimination challenge brought against St. James Parish in Louisiana. Two faith- and community-based groups argued the Parish had discriminated against them by directing hazardous industrial facility development toward majority-Black dis...
A district court granted summary judgment for landowners and a coalition of counties in a challenge to FWS' issuance of an ESA Section 4(d) Rule alongside its listing of the northern distinct population of lesser prairie-chicken as a threatened species. Plaintiffs argued FWS should have considered e...
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed dismissal of aviculturalist groups' lawsuit challenging FWS' denial of their petition to add two parrot species to the list of species approved for import under the Wild Exotic Bird Conservation Act. The groups had petitioned FWS to add members of the cactus conure and ...
A district court granted in part summary judgment for an environmental group in a lawsuit concerning ESA §7 consultations on six pesticides. The group argued FWS violated the ESA by unreasonably delaying completion of consultations on chlorpyrifos, diazinon, carbaryl, methomyl, atrazine, and simazi...
Tribal groups argued NMFS violated NEPA in adopting the harvest specifications because they relied on outdated EISs despite dramatic changes to the ecosystem that necessitated an updated environmental analysis. The court found the specifications were not arbitrary and capricious because NMFS conclud...
A district court granted in part and denied in part summary judgment for an environmental group in a challenge to NMFS' denial of the group's petition to promulgate ESA §4(d) regulations for 20 coral species. The group had petitioned NMFS in response to the Service's inaction on its own findings in...