The court holds that a prevailing logging company was not entitled to attorney fees in a lawsuit brought by an environmental group under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The court first holds that it will only allow attorney fees to a prevailing defendant if the plaintiff's action was frivolous. Th...

The court holds that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by failing to prepare a biological opinion (BO) that properly addressed how the North Pacific fishery management plans (FMPs) for the groundfish fisheries in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska ...

The court holds that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) did not comply with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) or its regulations when it promulgated the 1999 summer flounder fishing quota. The court first holds that the summer flounder fish...

The court denies environmental groups' motion to reopen a previous action and dismisses the groups' current action against the federal government in which the groups allege that the U.S. Navy violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and the Marine Mamm...

The court holds that environmental groups are entitled to an award of attorney fees under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in connection with their lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) for failing to timely publish final rules for one endangered butterfly and five endangered pla...

The court holds that three electric utilities may maintain their breach of contract claims against the government for the failure to begin by January 1, 1998, the disposal of spent nuclear fuel waste produced at the utilities' plant as agreed to in a 1983 contract. The government conceded that it wo...

The court reverses the dismissal of a utility's breach of contract claim against the government for failing to dispose of the utility's spent nuclear waste beginning no later than January 1, 1998, as agreed to in a 1983 contract. The government notified the utility that it would be unable to begin d...

The court upholds all but one of the U.S. Department of Commerce's regulations implementing the final 1999 highly migratory species fishery management plan. The court first holds that three of the regulations, which place limits on the amount of Atlantic bluefin tuna that can be caught and kept per ...

The court holds that it lacked original jurisdiction under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) to review an environmental group's petition to set aside a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) order that provides a process for determining whether certain radioactive waste streams are waste incidental to re...

The court holds that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) acted arbitrarily and capriciously in concluding that proposed timber sales were not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the Umpqua River cutthroat trout and the Oregon Coast coho salmon. The court first holds that the tri...