The court holds that the Humane Society has standing on behalf of its members to challenge the Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS') decision to allow hunting in national wildlife refuges. The court holds that the Humane Society has established injury-in-fact. The court holds that the injuries that the...

In the ongoing review of the Secretary of the Interior's Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) regulations, the court sustains in part and remands in part regulations concerning, inter alia, prime farmland and pastureland, bonding, regulatory guidance, subsidence damage, jurisdiction ov...

The California Supreme Court rules that the federal government has riparian water rights in national forests within the state, and that these rights are no more subordinate to appropriative water rights than the riparian rights of other landowners. The United States had asserted rights to water cros...

The Washington Supreme Court holds that privately owned tidelands in Padilla Bay are subject to the public trust doctrine and thus the state Shoreline Management Act (SMA) does not effect a taking by prohibiting dredge and fill activities, but the doctrine does not completely preclude plaintiff's ta...

The court holds that the owner, operator, and a corporate officer of an electroplating facility are jointly and severally liable under §107(a) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) for response costs incurred by the United States. The court first hold...

The court upholds the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM's) decision not to regulate or prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for proposed improvements by a county government to the Burr Trail, a local road passing between two wilderness study areas (WSAs) in Utah. Plaintiffs sued BLM and th...

The court holds that the discretionary function exception of the Federal Tort Claims Act applies to a firearms manufacturer's claims that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) improperly issued discharge permits under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) and that EPA breached its duty...

The court rules that "knowingly" within the meaning of the Endangered Species Act's criminal penalty provisions requires only that the government show that a defendant intentionally shot an animal and that the animal turned out to be an endangered or threatened species. The government is not require...

The court holds that a federal taking claim based on a scenic easement ordinance is not ripe because appellees have not sought a variance from the ordinance. The court first notes that a mere diminution in property value or potential profit is not a taking. Specifically, a height limitation preservi...

The court holds that the environmental impact statement (EIS) prepared by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for its noxious weed control program for five northwest states adequately considered alternatives involving less use of herbicides and contained a sufficient worst-case analysis. The court f...