The Washington Supreme Court upheld the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's issuance of a marine finfish aquaculture permit to allow a fish farmer to transition from farming Atlantic salmon to steelhead trout. Conservation groups argued the Department's conclusion that an EIS was not requir...
A district court granted environmental groups' motion for summary judgment in a challenge to FWS' 2019 determination that listing the Yellowstone bison as endangered or threatened under the ESA was not warranted. The groups argued the determination, among other things, failed to properly consider wh...
A district court vacated EPA's denial of an environmental group's petition to issue new and revised water quality standards for the state of Washington. The group argued that EPA acted arbitrarily and capriciously in denying its petition, and sought to have the denial vacated and the petition remand...
The Ninth Circuit remanded EPA's issuance of an NPDES general permit for concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) in Idaho. Environmental groups challenged the permit, arguing it lacked sufficient monitoring provisions to ensure compliance with its discharge limitations. The court found that t...
A district court granted in part summary judgment for environmental groups in a challenge to FWS' and the Forest Service's decisions regarding a logging and prescribed burning project in the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest. The groups argued the Services violated the ESA by failing to reiniti...
A district court denied states' and industry groups' motion to stay an order vacating and remanding EPA's 2020 Clean Water Act Section 401 Certification Rule, which had limited the ability of states and Native American tribes to regulate water pollution. The states and groups moved to stay the order...
A district court dismissed the state of Alaska's lawsuit against the Federal Subsistence Board (FSB) regarding the Board's authorization of a subsistence hunt for a southeast Alaska tribe. Alaska argued the FSB violated the APA, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, and the Sunshine A...
The First Circuit granted NOAA's motion to stay a district court order preliminarily enjoining the agency's partial seasonal closure of a Maine lobster fishery to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales. A fishing union had argued the closure was an arbitrary and capricious application of the...
The U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit brought by Mississippi against Tennessee seeking damages for a Tennessee city's pumping of groundwater from the Middle Claiborne Aquifer. Mississippi argued that the pumping siphoned water away from Mississippi and amounted to a tortious taking of groundwat...
A district court granted in part and denied in part gasoline companies' motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by the state of Maryland seeking to redress alleged contamination of its waters with methyl tertiary butyl ether. Maryland brought various common law claims and statutory claims u...