Earth Island Institute v. Elliot
A district court held that a Forest Service fire salvage restoration project could proceed despite its risk to protected species. The Cedar Fire began on August 16, 2016, and burned for three weeks over 29,000 acres of mixed conifer and white fir forest, most of which were in the Sequoia National Fo...
Cascadia Wildlands v. Scott Timber Co.
The Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court's grant of an injunction to halt a logging project in Oregon. A conservation group brought a citizen suit under the ESA challenging a logging project it claimed would result in the taking of the marbled murrelet, a seabird listed as a threatened species. The ...
Mayo v. National Park Service
The D.C. Circuit held that the Park Service did not violate NEPA when it authorized recreational hunts of elk in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park. The Grand Teton and the National Elk Refuge (Refuge) are home to the “Jackson herd,” one of the largest concentrations of elk in North America. ...
Volkswagen "Clean Diesel" Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation
A district court held that owners of Volkswagen-branded franchise dealerships could move forward with their suit against an auto parts manufacturer over its alleged role in the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal. The dealers contended that the manufacturer conspired with Volkswagen to help create a...
Sierra Club v. EPA
The D.C. Circuit held that EPA did not violate the CAA by modifying, without notice and comment, its prior understandings of how to measure a proposed transportation project’s impact on ambient levels of particulate matter. In 2006, EPA revised “hot spot" regulations for fine particulate matter....