The Ninth Circuit granted DOI's motion to dismiss a long-running land exchange dispute over construction of a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. The court found the Secretary of the Interior's recent withdrawal of the exchange, which was approved by a previous Secretary, mooted the c...
The Ninth Circuit dismissed for lack of standing a challenge to the Forest Service's livestock grazing decisions in Colville National Forest. Environmental groups argued the decisions would lead to an increase in wolf attacks on livestock, which in turn would cause the Washington Department of Fish ...
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 D.C. Circuit, in a split ruling, vacated certain provisions of EPA's rule phasing out the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Two companies and three trade groups argued EPA exceeded its authority in issuing the rule and that the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act, which directed the ...
The U.S. Supreme Court held, 5-4, that an 1868 peace treaty between the Navajo Nation and the United States establishing the Navajo Reservation reserved necessary water to accomplish the purpose of the reservation, but did not require the U.S. government to take affirmative steps to secure water for...
A district court vacated BLM's final EIS and 2019 record of decision (ROD) that approved an open-pit phosphate mine in southeast Idaho. Environmental groups had argued the ROD and final EIS upon which it was based violated NEPA, FLPMA, and the CWA. The court granted summary judgment in part for the ...
The Ninth Circuit, 2-1, denied a municipal irrigation district's request to compel a district court to remand to state court its motion for preliminary injunction in a suit concerning water allocation in the Klamath Basin. The district initially sought to stop the Bureau of Reclamation from releasin...
A district court granted a group of youths' motion for leave to file a second amended complaint in a lawsuit alleging the U.S. government failed to act on climate change and violated their right to a safe climate. The youths had argued that the government violated their constitutional rights under t...
A district court granted in part and denied in part an environmental group's motion for summary judgment in a CWA citizen suit concerning the Forest Service's discharge of aerially deployed fire retardant into navigable waters of the United States without an NPDES permit. The group argued the Servic...
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...