A district court denied EPA's motion to dismiss a lawsuit challenging its failure to perform required ESA consultations with FWS and NMFS before approving the state of Washington's limits on aquatic cyanide in 1993, 1997, and 2007. An environmental group argued that EPA failed to complete ESA §7 co...
A district court adopted a magistrate judge's findings and recommendations to grant in part and deny in part cross-motions for summary judgment in a lawsuit concerning the Forest Service's approval of a vegetation management project in the Kootenai National Forest. An environmental group had argued,...
The D.C. Circuit reversed summary judgment for NMFS in a Maine lobstermen group's challenge to the Service's 2021 biological opinion (BiOp) that authorized a series of federal fisheries, including the lobster fishery, and implemented a conservation framework designed to reduce the fisheries' impact ...
The Tenth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part dismissal of a challenge to the Forest Service's approval of grazing permits in Bridger-Teton National Forest that authorized the "lethal take" of grizzly bears. Environmental groups challenged the approval, arguing FWS violated the ESA because...
A district court denied summary judgment for a group of landowners in a challenge to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM's) and NMFS' decisions approving an offshore wind energy project off the coast of Nantucket. The group argued that NMFS violated the ESA by failing to adequately conside...
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...
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...
A district court granted in part and denied in part summary judgment for environmental groups in a lawsuit concerning FWS' management of grizzly bear recovery in the Bitterroot Ecosystem. The groups argued FWS violated NEPA and the APA by choosing not to implement grizzly bear recovery plans adopted...