A district court held that EPA failed to act when it did not rule within 60 days on Connecticut's petition concerning upwind pollution. In June 2016, Connecticut filed a petition pursuant to §126(b) of the CAA for EPA to make a finding that Brunner Island is emitting air pollutants that significant...

A district court held that FWS applied an improper standard when it concluded there was not adequate scientific evidence to warrant listing the Yellowstone bison population under the ESA. Environmentalists petitioned the agency in 2014 to list the Yellowstone bison as either threatened or endangered...

The Eleventh Circuit held that the Miami Seaquarium’s treatment of a captive orca named Lolita doesn’t seriously threaten her life. Animal activists sued the aquarium, alleging it is perpetrating an unlawful “take” by “harm[ing]” or “harass[ing]” Lolita in violation of the ESA. A dis...

The Ninth Circuit held that FWS did not violate the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) when it authorized the taking of the barred owl to help the recovery of the spotted owl. The spotted owl was listed as endangered under the ESA in 1990, and it was later determined that one of the factors affecting ...

The Ninth Circuit held that portions of Idaho’s Agricultural Security Act violate the First Amendment. The law, enacted after a secretly-filmed expose of operations at an Idaho dairy farm went live on the internet, broadly criminalizes making misrepresentations to access an agricultural production...