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Tribal groups argued NMFS violated NEPA in adopting the harvest specifications because they relied on outdated EISs despite dramatic changes to the ecosystem that necessitated an updated environmental analysis.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...
The Fourth Circuit affirmed a district court's denial of a motion to temporarily enjoin construction on a real estate development project in South Carolina. Environmental groups argued the CWA §404 permit issued for the project violated the ESA by using a habitat surrogate to set the level of antic...
The Fourth Circuit vacated a district court order that denied a motion to preliminarily enjoin the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's recommended fishery management plan (FMP) for striped bass. A trade group, a group of charter boat captains, and two individuals operating in Maryland sued...
The First Circuit reversed a district court ruling in a challenge to NMFS' 2024 rule finalizing a 2022 emergency rule that seasonally banned vertical buoy lines used in lobster and Jonah crab trap fishing from certain federal waters off Massachusetts to reduce risk of injury or death to the endanger...