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...
The Tenth Circuit denied environmental groups' petition to review an EPA rule that partially approved Colorado's SIP to reduce ozone pollution. The groups sought vacatur of the approval, arguing the Agency violated the CAA by approving the reasonable further progress and motor vehicle emissions budg...
In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a district court ruling in a lawsuit over a logging project in Kootenai National Forest. Conservation groups sued the Forest Service and FWS, arguing the project's approval violated the ESA, NEPA, and the National For...
The U.S. Supreme Court held, 5-4, that the CWA does not authorize EPA to include "end-result" provisions in NPDES permits, in a lawsuit concerning the Agency's issuance of a renewal permit for the city of San Francisco that added two such requirements. The city petitioned for review, arguing the req...
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 denied environmental groups' motion to preliminarily enjoin a tornado recovery operations project in Hoosier National Forest. The groups argued the Forest Service improperly excluded the project from NEPA's research and reporting requirements and began implementing the project befor...
A district court granted EPA's and OMB's motion to dismiss a challenge brought by California youth against certain agency policies for allegedly undervaluing the lives of children in cost-benefit analyses and thus harming them by failing to resolve the climate crisis. The youth argued the policies v...
The Ninth Circuit reversed a district court's dismissal of a challenge to the U.S. Air Force's decision to engage in hazardous waste disposal through open burning/open detonation (OB/OD) operations at Tarague Beach on Guam. A nonprofit group argued the Air Force failed to comply with its environment...
A district court granted the state of Utah's and an oil and gas company's motions to dismiss a challenge to four leasing decisions made from 2018 through 2019, under which BLM issued 145 oil and gas leases on public lands throughout eastern Utah. An environmental group argued BLM violated NEPA and t...