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 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 ...

A district court dismissed a RCRA citizen suit over a closure plan for a coal-fired power plant in Alabama. An environmental group challenged the plan, arguing it was unlawful to permanently store over 21 million tons of coal ash and toxic pollutants in the existing unlined impoundment, situated in ...

The Tenth Circuit reversed a district court finding of a CWA violation in a citizen suit brought against the operator of a gold mine in Colorado. Plaintiffs argued the operator violated the CWA because seepage from the mine's settling ponds flowed into the groundwater and then migrated to the Middle...

The Fifth Circuit vacated a district court ruling in a decades-long dispute over whether a property in Louisiana contains federally regulated wetlands. The property owner sued the Army Corps of Engineers, arguing its determination that the property contained federal regulated wetlands was arbitrary ...

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 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...

A district court granted FWS' motion for partial voluntary remand in a challenge to its decision to list the eastern black rail as threatened instead of endangered. Environmental groups argued FWS' decision, and related determination that designation of critical habitat for the rail was "not prudent...