Natural Resources Defense Council v. U.S. Department of the Interior
A district court granted in part and denied in part DOI's motion to dismiss a challenge to its 2017 interpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act that permitted the "incidental" taking of migratory birds. Environmental groups and states argued the agency's interpretation was arbitrary and capricio...
Defenders of Wildlife v. United States Department of the Interior
The Fourth Circuit vacated a biological opinion and incidental take statement issued by FWS in connection with a proposed natural gas pipeline that would run from West Virginia to North Carolina. Environmental groups argued that FWS improperly determined that construction of the pipeline would not j...
Center for Environmental Science, Accuracy & Reliability v. United States Department of Interior
A district court dismissed a challenge to FWS' denial of a petition to remove the coastal California gnatcatcher from the ESA's threatened species list. Advocacy groups argued the Service's denial of their petition to delist the bird species violated the ESA because the decision was not based on an ...