The Ninth Circuit upheld the Secretary of Commerce's decision to allocate a portion of the U.S. harvest of Pacific whiting to the Makah Indian Tribe. Because the "best available scientific information" supports a sliding scale method of allocation, the National Marine Fisheries Service's (NMFS') rel...

A district court granted the state of Washington's motion for partial summary judgment on its claim that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) violated the Washington State Hazardous Waste Management Act (HWMA) when it decided to ship radioactive and hazardous mixed transuranic waste to the Hanford Nu...

A district court enjoined and vacated a final U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) rule that reduced protection afforded to the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by changing its status from "endangered" to "threatened" in some regions. The FWS' interpretation of "significant portion o...

The court dissolves a 1992 injunction that prevented the U.S. Forest Service (Forest Service) from auctioning or awarding timber sales to log suitable habitat for the northern spotted owl in Regions 5 and 6 until the Forest Service implemented revised standards and guidelines in compliance with the ...

The court holds that the Pacific Northwest Electric Power and Conservation Planning Council (Council) violated the Northwest Power Act (NPA) §839b(h)(7) and the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to explain, in its final amendments to its fish and wildlife program for the Columbia River Basin,...

Applying Nebraska law, the court holds that the instrument creating the Platte River Whooping Crane Maintenance Trust authorizes the trust to participate in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) relicensing hearings for two hydroelectric projects on the Platte River and in litigation involving...

The court preliminarily enjoins the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) from importing 409 spent nuclear fuel assemblies for storage at the Savannah River site in South Carolina until the court resolves on the merits South Carolina's claim under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that an envir...

The court holds that timber companies, a trade association, and a county lack constitutional and prudential standing to challenge the U.S. Forest Service's interim guidelines on managing spotted owl habitat in California's western Sierra Nevada national forests. Plaintiffs alleged that the guideline...

The court holds that the Endangered Species Act's (ESA's) prohibition on the "take" of endangered species is not unconstitutional as applied to purely local activities that affect a fly that exists only in California. The court first holds that the record clearly shows that wildlife in general, and ...

The court holds that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requires the U.S. Forest Service to release to an environmental group management territory maps identifying Mexican spotted owl nest sites. The Forest Service may not withhold the maps under FOIA exemption 2, which permits withholding of inf...