The court holds that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS') denial of an incidental take permit authorizing logging on 40 acres of protected owl habitat was neither a physical nor a regulatory taking. Contrary to the lower court's decision, the landowners' claim is ripe. Although the FWS invite...

The D.C. Circuit held that on remand EPA must explain how the risk assessments it used in exempting certain recycled zinc fertilizer products from regulation under RCRA compare with the risk threshold estimates in a private study. Petitioners were limited to challenging EPA's claim that its study an...

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 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 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 moot challenges to the mixture and derived-from rules that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), holds moot a challenge to EPA's rule applying the mixture rule to Bevill wastes mixed with listed hazardous waste,...

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,...

Applying Nebraska law, the court holds that the instrument creating the Platte River Whooping Crane Maintenance Trust authorizes the trust to participate in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) relicensing hearings for two hydroelectric projects on the Platte River and in litigation involving...

The court holds that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was not constitutionally barred from considering a facility's boiler and industrial furnace (BIF) permit application while a federal government suit over the facility's alleged incineration of hazardous waste without a permit was pe...