A district court vacated and remanded FWS' and the Forest Service's approval of the first phase of a proposed copper and silver mine beneath the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness. Tribal and environmental groups argued the agencies violated the ESA by failing to reinitiate consultation on the mine's impa...

A district court granted an environmental group's motion for summary judgment in a challenge to FWS' withdrawal of a rule proposed in 2015 to list the Lower Colorado River (LCR) Basin roundtail chub as a threatened species. The group argued that FWS' withdrawal of the rule rested entirely on the Ser...

A district court granted in part and denied in part environmental groups' motion for summary judgment in a challenge to incidental take regulations promulgated by NMFS that authorized certain oil and gas exploration and production activities in Cook Inlet. The groups argued that NMFS violated the Ma...

The D.C. Circuit granted in part, denied in part, and dismissed in part a petition to review FERC's approval of changes to dam operations in northwest Indiana after determining that the hydroelectric dam partially caused mussel deaths, as well as FWS' biological opinion (BiOp) upon which the Commiss...

The Fifth Circuit denied a petition to review FWS' issuance of a biological opinion (BiOp) and incidental take statement (ITS) authorizing the harm or harassment of endangered ocelot or jaguarundi in connection with construction and operation of a liquefied natural gas pipeline in South Texas. Envir...

A district court denied environmental groups' motions to enjoin an oil company from undertaking construction this winter on an oil and gas project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. One group argued BLM violated the ESA by inappropriately relying on uncertain Marine Mammal Protection Act miti...

A district court granted a motion to preliminarily enjoin FWS from implementing its policy barring the release of captive red wolves into a recovery area in North Carolina. Environmental groups argued FWS violated §7(a)(2) of the ESA by failing to ensure that its actions were not likely to jeopardi...

A district court denied an animal rights group's motion for summary judgment in a challenge to permits and safe harbor agreements (SHAs) issued by FWS for an experiment on nonfederal land to gain data on the relationship between barred owl removal and northern spotted owl recovery. The group argued ...

A district court granted the U.S. government's motions for preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order in a lawsuit concerning owners' care of animals at two facilities in Oklahoma.The government sought an order declaring the owners had violated the ESA and the Animal Welfare Act (AWA); e...

A district court denied an environmental group's motion for summary judgment in a challenge to FWS' denial of the group's 2014 petition to update the recovery plan for grizzly bears. The group argued that FWS' denial was arbitrary and capricious. The court concluded that while recovery plans were vi...