The Fifth Circuit reversed a district court's dismissal of a discrimination challenge brought against St. James Parish in Louisiana. Two faith- and community-based groups argued the Parish had discriminated against them by directing hazardous industrial facility development toward majority-Black dis...
A district court granted summary judgment for landowners and a coalition of counties in a challenge to FWS' issuance of an ESA Section 4(d) Rule alongside its listing of the northern distinct population of lesser prairie-chicken as a threatened species. Plaintiffs argued FWS should have considered e...
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed dismissal of aviculturalist groups' lawsuit challenging FWS' denial of their petition to add two parrot species to the list of species approved for import under the Wild Exotic Bird Conservation Act. The groups had petitioned FWS to add members of the cactus conure and ...
A district court granted in part summary judgment for an environmental group in a lawsuit concerning ESA §7 consultations on six pesticides. The group argued FWS violated the ESA by unreasonably delaying completion of consultations on chlorpyrifos, diazinon, carbaryl, methomyl, atrazine, and simazi...
Tribal groups argued NMFS violated NEPA in adopting the harvest specifications because they relied on outdated EISs despite dramatic changes to the ecosystem that necessitated an updated environmental analysis. The court found the specifications were not arbitrary and capricious because NMFS conclud...
A district court granted in part and denied in part summary judgment for an environmental group in a challenge to NMFS' denial of the group's petition to promulgate ESA §4(d) regulations for 20 coral species. The group had petitioned NMFS in response to the Service's inaction on its own findings in...
A district court vacated a 2022 instruction memorandum (IM) issued by BLM that outlined policies and procedures for administering an incentive program for adopting federally protected wild horses and burros. Animal rights groups challenged the IM, arguing it violated the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and...
A district court granted the Army Corps of Engineers' motion to dismiss a developer's challenge to the Corps' 2012 jurisdictional determination over certain wetlands in Virginia. The developer challenged the Corps' significant nexus finding between the wetlands and the Northwest River, arguing the s...
A district court granted summary judgment for a number of states in a challenge to a 2024 CEQ rule that revised regulations for implementing the procedural provisions of NEPA, including amendments in the Fiscal Responsibility Act. The states argued the rule violated NEPA and the APA by exceeding CEQ...
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment for Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) in a challenge to regulations promulgated by the Commission that restricted where and how Florida-registered fishing vessels could harvest Florida pompano in federal waters in the Gulf of Mex...