The Mine Safety and Health Administration amended its existing standards to better protect miners against occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica, a significant health hazard, and to improve respiratory protection for miners from exposure to airborne contaminants.
NMFS announced a 90-day finding that a petition to list the whitespotted eagle ray as a threatened or endangered species and to designate critical habitat concurrent with the listing does not present substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted.
FWS announced the updated planning policies for the National Wildlife Refuge System to incorporate landscape conservation plans and consideration of climate change and other anthropogenic forces in refuge management.
NMFS announced its intent to conduct a five-year review of the endangered western distinct population segment of the Steller sea lion.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed to establish two new federal motor vehicle safety standards specifying performance requirements for all motor vehicles that use hydrogen as a fuel source.
A district court granted in part and denied in part animal rights groups' motion for summary judgment in a challenge to BLM's recent roundup of wild horses at the Pancake Complex in eastern Nevada. The groups argued BLM violated the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act (WHA) by failing to approve...
A district court granted summary judgment for 21 states in a challenge to the Federal Highway Administration's (FHwA's) rule requiring each state to set declining targets for tailpipe carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from vehicles on the National Highway System. The states argued requiring automobile ...
A district court granted in part and denied in part summary judgment for an animal rights group in a lawsuit concerning BLM's adoption of four 10-year management plans for controlling wild horse populations in certain herd management areas. The group argued BLM exceeded its statutory authority under...
FWS revised regulations concerning the issuance of enhancement of survival and incidental take permits under the ESA.
FWS revised its regulations concerning protections of endangered and threatened species under the ESA by reinstating the general application of the "blanket rule'' option for protecting newly listed threatened species pursuant to §4(d) of the Act, with the continued option to promulgate species-specific §4(d) rules, and extending to federally recognized tribes the exceptions to prohibitions for threatened species that the regulations currently provide to the employees or agents of FWS and other federal and state agencies to aid, salvage, or dispose of threatened species.