A district court held that FWS' delay in developing and implementing a recovery plan for the Canada lynx, which was listed as threatened in 2000, is unreasonable. The ESA directs FWS to prepare a recovery plan for listed species but does not include a timetable or indication of the speed with which ...
The Ninth Circuit held that BLM's roundup or "gather" of approximately 1,639 wild horses and 160 burros from the Twin Peaks Herd Management Area (HMA) on the California-Nevada border complied with the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act and NEPA. Post-gather, 793 wild horses and 160 burros resid...
A district court held that a coal company violated the CWA and SMCRA by discharging excessive amounts of selenium into the waters of West Virginia. The company argued that the environmental group's lawsuit should be dismissed because it had already entered into a consent decree with the state enviro...
A district court held a coal company liable under the CWA for discharging excessive amounts of selenium into the waters of West Virginia. Water sampling performed on behalf of an environmental group that filed a citizen suit against the company prove that the company violated West Virginia's water q...
A district court granted summary judgment in favor of NMFS in a lawsuit filed by Massachusetts and New Hampshire challenging the agency's decision to promulgate Frameworks 48 and 50 regulating New England’s Multispecies Fishery under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Th...
The Ninth Circuit held that the Bureau of Reclamation should have consulted with FWS or NMFS on impacts to the threatened delta smelt prior to renewing long-term water contracts pertaining to California's Central Valley Project. ESA §7(a)(2) requires such consultation so long as the agency has “s...
A district court dismissed three New Hampshire cities' citizen suit challenging EPA's decision to approve New Hampshire's impaired waters list under the CWA. The cities lack standing because the regulatory decisions that the cities challenge have not yet caused them harm, and whether cities will be ...