The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the National Park Service (NPS) in a challenge to the Service's authority to prohibit commercial herring fishing in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA). A fishing group argued that NPS lacked authority under the GGNRA Act to enforce the co...

The Ninth Circuit, 2-1, affirmed a district court ruling that the Forest Service acted arbitrarily and capriciously in approving a mining operations plan for a copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains. The Service approved the plan based on its conclusion that §612 of the Surface Resources and Multi...

In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit affirmed dismissal of a lawsuit concerning the Forest Service's 1987 plan for Custer Gallatin National Forest. An environmental group argued that NEPA obligated the Service to supplement its EIS for the plan after recognizing in 2012 that climate change n...

The Tenth Circuit reversed a district court's denial of a motion to dismiss a CWA citizen suit concerning the release of contaminated water from an inactive gold mine in Colorado. Nearby farmers filed suit in a New Mexico district court, alleging several state-law claims. A hazardous waste managemen...

The Tenth Circuit affirmed dismissal of a lawsuit concerning a long-running water dispute between an Indian tribe and a private landowner in Utah. The tribe sued the landowner in tribal court, arguing the landowner had been diverting the tribe's water for years. The tribal court held it had subject ...

In an en banc decision, the First Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part summary judgment for an environmental group in a CWA citizen suit against developers of a construction site in Massachusetts. The group argued the developers violated the CWA by failing to comply with the construction ge...

The Tenth Circuit affirmed dismissal of ranching groups' challenge to FWS' designation of critical habitat for the endangered New Mexico meadow jumping mouse. The groups argued FWS' methodology for analyzing economic impacts of the designation violated the ESA and court precedent, that the Service f...

The Ninth Circuit vacated EPA's denial of a petition to cancel the registration of the pesticide tetrachlorvinphos (TCVP). An environmental group petitioned the Agency to cancel the registration of TCVP for use in household pet products, and EPA denied the petition. The group argued the Agency erred...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for FWS in a challenge to its 2016 Kenai Rule, which banned baiting of brown bears in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge and hunting of coyotes, lynx, and wolves in a specific wildlife recreation area. The state of Alaska and a hunting group argued the rul...

The Ninth Circuit again affirmed a district court order that remanded to state court several California counties' and cities' lawsuit against oil and gas companies alleging state law claims arising from global warming. The district court concluded that none of the companies' grounds for removal—fe...