A district court granted environmental groups' motion to preliminarily enjoin the Secretary of Commerce from implementing his finding under the International Dolphin Conservation Program Act that the intentional deployment on, or encirclement of, dolphins with purse seine nets is not having a signif...

The Ninth Circuit upheld the Secretary of Commerce's decision to allocate a portion of the U.S. harvest of Pacific whiting to the Makah Indian Tribe. Because the "best available scientific information" supports a sliding scale method of allocation, the National Marine Fisheries Service's (NMFS') rel...

A district court granted summary judgment against environmental groups on their claim that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to perform assessment, evaluation, and determination duties within the Jordan Resource Area in Oregon. The groups failed...

The First Circuit held that U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations that permit synthetic substances to be used in processing organic foods are contrary to the plain language of the Organic Foods Production Act. Similarly, provisions creating an exception to the Act's 12-month requirement for dai...

A district court enjoined and vacated a final U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) rule that reduced protection afforded to the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by changing its status from "endangered" to "threatened" in some regions. The FWS' interpretation of "significant portion o...

The Sixth Circuit upheld the Surface Transportation Board's grant of a railroad company's request to operate an intermodal transportation facility on city property. Local governments argued that the company's proposal was a sham designed to prevent the surrounding cities from taking the property by ...

The D.C. Circuit held that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) properly modified the terms, set forth in earlier settlements, under which three natural gas shippers must ship gas over the lines of the El Paso Natural Gas Company. FERC did not err by converting the shippers' contracts fro...

The court dissolves a 1992 injunction that prevented the U.S. Forest Service (Forest Service) from auctioning or awarding timber sales to log suitable habitat for the northern spotted owl in Regions 5 and 6 until the Forest Service implemented revised standards and guidelines in compliance with the ...

The court upholds the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) decision not to list used oil from gasoline-powered engines that is destined for disposal as hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA). The court first holds that petitioners have standing to challenge EPA...

The court holds that the Pacific Northwest Electric Power and Conservation Planning Council (Council) violated the Northwest Power Act (NPA) §839b(h)(7) and the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to explain, in its final amendments to its fish and wildlife program for the Columbia River Basin,...