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Hawkins v. Bernhardt
A district court dismissed a lawsuit challenging two protocol agreements entered into by Native American tribes and the Bureau of Indian Affairs that established procedures for enforcement of the tribes' water rights in the Upper Klamath Basin. A group of ranchers and landowners argued that the agre...
Center for Biological Diversity v. Everson
A district court held that FWS' decision to list the northern long-eared bat as threatened rather than endangered under the ESA was arbitrary and capricious. Environmental groups argued that the rationale FWS relied on to reach its decision—that the species had not yet suffered declines and appear...
Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin v. Environmental Protection Agency
The Seventh Circuit affirmed dismissal of a challenge to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's approval of a CWA §404 permit for a proposed mine along the Menominee River. A Native American tribe argued that EPA and the Corps should have exercised authority over the permit because circ...
"Significant Portion of Its Range": Statutory Interpretation of the ESA
The Endangered Species Act defines an endangered species as one at risk of extinction “throughout all or a significant portion of its range.” The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) has repeatedly defined “significant portion” to mean an area of the range essential to species persistence. This definition is redundant, and various iterations of the definition have been struck down in the past. At the same time, other proposals to list a species only in a portion of its range fail to satisfy the statutory requirements.
WildEarth Guardians v. United States Army Corps of Engineers
The Tenth Circuit held that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was not required to consult with FWS about alternative water management policies in the Rio Grande River that would help protect the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher and the Rio Grande silvery minnow. An environmental group argued...