United States v. Bengis
A district court ordered three men to pay South Africa $29.5 million in restitution for illegally harvesting and importing into the United States large quantities of West Coast rock lobsters from South African waters in violation of the Lacey Act. But because the men already paid $7 million to South...
Polar Bear Endangered Species Act Listing
The D.C. Circuit upheld FWS's determination that sport-hunted polar bear "trophies" may no longer be imported into the United States under the Marine Mammals Protection Act (MMPA) as of the effective date of the ESA listing rule for the species. In May 2008, FWS determined threatened status for the ...
Montana Environmental Information Center v. United States Bureau of Land Management
A district court dismissed environmental groups' claims that BLM failed to adequately consider climate change, global warming, and greenhouse gases (GHGs) in violation of NEPA before it approved oil and gas leases on federal land in Montana in 2008 and 2010. The groups argued that BLM's failure to f...
Conservation Congress v. United States Forest Service
The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision denying an environmental group's request to preliminarily enjoin the U.S. Forest Service's approval of a timber sale in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The group argued that the Service failed to adequately evaluate the cumulative effects of the ...
American Trucking Ass'ns v. Los Angeles, City of
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down portions of the Los Angeles port's "Clean Truck Program," which was designed in part to reduce emissions related to port operations, including emissions from trucks. The concession agreements implementing the plan set forth a number of provisions covering, among ot...