In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit vacated a district court's judgment reinstating a 2016 moratorium on new coal leasing on public lands that was lifted by a DOI secretarial order in 2017. Environmental groups, several states, and a tribe argued BLM's final EA and FONSI violated NEPA. DOI ...

A district court denied nonprofit groups' motion for summary judgment in a challenge to FWS' 2016 decision to delist the Louisiana black bear after determining its population had recovered and was no longer threatened. The groups argued FWS should not have included the Upper Atchafalaya River Basin ...

A district court granted NMFS' motion to dismiss a challenge to its lobster fishing gear regulations. Environmental groups argued the regulations did not adequately protect the endangered North American right whale, in violation of the ESA and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. NMFS moved to dismiss ...

A district court denied an environmental group's motion for summary judgment in a challenge to the Forest Service's approval of a restoration project in Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. The group argued the Service violated NEPA and its implementing regulations in designing, analyzing, and implem...

A district court granted environmental groups' motion to lift a stay of a suit challenging NMFS' biological opinion (BiOp) concerning oil and gas activity in the Gulf of Mexico. The groups initially argued NMFS issued a flawed BiOp that underestimated the risks of harm to protected species and took ...

The Third Circuit denied petitions to review FAA's FONSI decision approving construction of a new terminal at an airport in New Jersey. Petitioners argued FAA erroneously determined that the project did not expand the terminal and would not induce air traffic growth, failed to consider the cumulativ...

A district court granted in part summary judgment for environmental groups in a challenge to a National Park Service (NPS) agreement with Miami-Dade County to facilitate development of a waterpark, hotel, and retail area near the Miami Zoo. The groups argued NPS violated NEPA and the ESA by failing ...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the Forest Service in a challenge to its approval of a logging project in Inyo National Forest. Environmental groups argued the Service failed to adequately consider alternatives, failed to solicit public comments following its 2018 EA, and failed to s...

The Ninth Circuit reversed summary judgment for FWS in a challenge to its biological opinion (BiOp) concerning water pumping impacts on ESA-protected species in Arizona's San Pedro River Basin. An environmental group argued the BiOp, which concluded that a conservation easement proposed to compensat...

A district court granted in part and denied in part environmental groups' motion to preliminarily enjoin the state of Montana's wolf trapping and snaring season as authorized by recently approved regulations. The groups argued the regulations, which expanded both the length of the season and the geo...