A district court upheld the National Marine Fisheries Service's (NMFS') decision to list the Cook Inlet beluga whale as endangered under the ESA. The state of Alaska, an oil company, and several nonprofit corporations challenged the decision, questioning the rationale behind the NFMS' decision, its ...

A district court set aside and remanded the FWS' 12-month finding that the desert bald eagle does not qualify as a distinct population segment (DPS) of bald eagles entitled to statutory protection under the ESA. In 2004, an environmental group petitioned the FWS to list desert eagles as a DPS, but t...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court decision vacating the FWS' decision to remove the Yellowstone distinct population segment of grizzly bears from the ESA's threatened species list. Given the lack of data indicating grizzly population stability in the face of white...

A district court held that an oil company may not seek insurance coverage for damages it incurred following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill under the oil rig owner's insurance policies. The underlying insurance policies refer to the drilling contract between the rig owner and the oil company to dete...

The Ninth Circuit held that the FWS' determination that a proposed mining project in northwest Montana would result in "no adverse modification" to critical bull trout habitat and would result in "no jeopardy" to the local grizzly bear population was not arbitrary, capricious, or in violation of the...