A district court vacated two FWS depredation orders reauthorizing the killing of double-crested cormorants in certain states. The court previously held that FWS violated NEPA when it reissued the orders. At issue here was the remedy. FWS argued that remand without vacatur was appropriate, whereas pl...
A district court, in a 149-page opinion, held that the government violated the ESA and NEPA when it approved its 2014 biological opinion (BiOp) for the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) and its impact on salmon and steelhead. The FCRPS consists of hydroelectric dams, powerhouses, and assoc...
The D.C. Circuit, in an unpublished opinion, dismissed a petition challenging an EPA computer model that states must use to estimate motor vehicle emissions when developing their strategies to comply with the CAA. Kansas and Nebraska, as well as two nonprofit organizations, alleged that the model is...
The Fifth Circuit upheld an individual's sentence and conviction for wire fraud, money laundering, and CAA violations for selling false renewable fuel credits. The individual represented to EPA and to fuel companies seeking to purchase renewable fuel credits that he manufactured renewable fuels when...
A district court held that FWS violated NEPA when it reissued two orders authorizing the killing of double-crested cormorants in certain states. FWS issued an EA and FONSI for the orders rather than an EIS. But the EA is insufficient to justify FWS' FONSI because FWS did not take the requisite “ha...
The Ninth Circuit, in an unpublished opinion, affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court decision dismissing fishermen's NEPA claims against the Bureau of Reclamation in connection with its approval of eight interim two-year contracts for delivery of water from the Central Valley Project to...
The Ninth Circuit held that the government complied with NEPA when it issued a FONSI in connection with the redevelopment of a 15-acre waterfront site owned by the U.S. Navy in downtown San Diego. The site serves as the home to several non-operational, administrative components of the U.S. Navy, and...
A district court ordered EPA to either promulgate revised emissions standards for the the pulp mill and nutritional yeast manufacturing source categories, or issue a determination that such standards are not required under the CAA. EPA promulgated emissions standards for both of these major source c...
The Tenth Circuit dismissed an environmental group's citizen suit against an Oklahoma power company for CAA violations at a power plant. The group claimed the company modified a coal-fired boiler without first obtaining an emission-regulating permit as required by the CAA. But because the group file...