The Ninth Circuit, 2-1, reversed summary judgment for the Bureau of Reclamation and Santa Maria Water District in a lawsuit concerning the endangered Southern California steelhead. Environmental groups argued the agencies' operation of a dam in the Santa Maria River watershed interfered with the ste...
The Third Circuit affirmed dismissal of a challenge to the Delaware River Basin Commission's ban on high-volume hydraulic fracturing in the Delaware River Basin. Pennsylvania state senators, a state caucus, and several municipalities argued the Commission exceeded its authority under the Delaware Ri...
A district court denied summary judgment for a Maine lobstermen group in a challenge to NMFS' 2021 biological opinion (BiOp) that both authorized a series of federal fisheries, including the lobster fishery, and implemented a conservation framework designed to reduce the fisheries' impact on right w...
A district court remanded a lawsuit challenging FWS’ decision to downgrade a rare species of parrot from endangered to threatened and to issue a §4(d) rule under the ESA allowing for limited import and export of the bird without an ESA permit. An animal advocacy group sought vacatur, arguing FWS�...
The Fifth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a district court’s dismissal of a lawsuit concerning a 2019 Texas law that allows only owners of existing transmission lines in the state to build, own, or operate new lines that connect to existing lines. A company seeking to enter the state...
A district court denied a request by conservation groups to halt all construction on a transmission line project from Iowa to Wisconsin pending the transmission companies' appeal of a prior order enjoining construction of a section of the line across the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and...
A district court on remand granted environmental groups' request for a permanent injunction in an ESA citizen suit concerning a logging project on private land in Oregon. In initial proceedings, the groups sought a preliminary injunction, arguing the project would result in the taking of marbled mur...
The Tenth Circuit affirmed dismissal of a challenge to FWS' 2018 decision to modify certain trails in the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge. Community groups argued the modifications were significant and that FWS failed to prepare a supplemental EIS and relied on categorical exclusions based on a...
A district court granted summary judgment for conservation groups in a challenge to NMFS' 2021 issuance of a biological opinion (BiOp) and final rule concerning lobster fishing gear requirements and the endangered North Atlantic right whale. The groups argued the BiOp violated the ESA by allowing fo...
The First Circuit vacated a district court order preliminarily enjoining NOAA's partial seasonal closure of a Maine lobster fishery to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales. A fishing union argued the closure was an arbitrary and capricious application of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, a...