A district court granted in part and denied in part summary judgment for a conservation group in a challenge to NMFS' management of the Pacific sardine under the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) and NEPA. The group argued NMFS' plan to rebuild the sardine population after it was declared overfished in 201...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and vacated in part a district court's preliminary injunction limiting wolf trapping and snaring in certain parts of Montana to January 1, 2024, through February 15, 2024. Nonprofit groups argued Montana's laws authorizing recreational wolf and coyote trapping and ...

The Fifth Circuit rejected an environmental group's challenge to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality's (LDEQ's) decision to issue preconstruction permits for a liquefied natural gas export facility in Cameron Parish. The group sought to have LDEQ's decision vacated, arguing the facilit...

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that the Takings Clause does not distinguish between legislative and administrative land use permit conditions, in a lawsuit concerning a traffic impact fee as a condition of building a prefabricated home on a parcel of land. The landowner challenged the fee a...

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that Texas property owners should be permitted to pursue claims under the Takings Clause through an inverse-condemnation cause of action available under Texas law. Over 120 property owners argued that a Texas highway elevation and expansion project, which buil...

A district court granted in part and denied in part animal rights groups' motion for summary judgment in a challenge to BLM's recent roundup of wild horses at the Pancake Complex in eastern Nevada. The groups argued BLM violated the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act (WHA) by failing to approve...

A district court granted in part and denied in part summary judgment for an animal rights group in a lawsuit concerning BLM's adoption of four 10-year management plans for controlling wild horse populations in certain herd management areas. The group argued BLM exceeded its statutory authority under...

The D.C. Circuit upheld EPA's 2022 decision to reinstate a prior waiver of federal preemption of two California regulations concerning automobile emissions under the CAA. States and fossil fuel groups challenged the regulations—a standard limiting greenhouse gas emissions and a requirement that a ...

A district court granted in part and denied in part summary judgment for environmental groups in a challenge to an Idaho law authorizing expanded authorization of recreational wolf trapping and snaring in the state's grizzly bear habitat. The groups argued Idaho's continued authorization and expansi...

A district court denied the state of Alaska's and North Slope Borough's challenge to NMFS' decision not to delist the Arctic ringed seal as an endangered species following their 2019 petition. The plaintiffs argued NMFS failed to credit new information from FWS' analysis, failed to credit the Interg...