The Ninth Circuit affirmed vacatur of FWS' designation of an area in the northern Santa Rita Mountains as occupied critical habitat for jaguar. An environmental group initially sued FWS, challenging the Service's conclusion that a proposed copper mine project in the area would not destroy or adverse...

The D.C. Circuit granted oil and gas groups' petition to review a Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) safety standard that requires their members to install remote-controlled or automatic shut-off valves in some types of new or replaced gas and hazardous liquid pipelines. ...

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a splintered 5-4 decision, affirmed dismissal of a constitutional challenge to a California law that forbids in-state sale of pork meat from breeding pigs that are "confined in a cruel manner." Out-of-state pork producers challenged the law on dormant Commerce Clause groun...

A district court adopted the recommendations of a magistrate judge and vacated portions of NMFS' 2019 biological opinion concerning the incidental take statement that authorized take of southern resident killer whales and chinook salmon resulting from commercial harvest of chinook salmon during trol...

A district court granted environmental groups' motion to preliminarily enjoin a logging project in the Kootenai National Forest. The groups argued the project violated the ESA by failing to adequately consider the impacts of unauthorized motorized access on grizzly bears in the project area. The cou...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the U.S. government in a challenge to President Obama's issuance of a proclamation expanding the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in southwestern Oregon. A timber company argued the proclamation was an invalid exercise of the Antiquities Act because ...

The Ninth Circuit reversed a district court's dismissal of an industry group's challenge to the city of Berkeley's natural gas hookup ban. The group argued the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) preempted the ban, which enacted a building code prohibiting installation of natural gas p...

The Fifth Circuit, 2-1, affirmed a district court ruling that denied the Sabine River Authority (SRA)-Louisiana's motion to dismiss a lawsuit concerning its release of water from a reservoir on the Sabine River between Texas and Louisiana. Property owners in both states argued that SRA-Louisiana and...