A district court upheld FWS' decision to terminate the southern sea otter translocation program off the coast of California. Due to the threatened species' vulnerability to extinction…

The Fifth Circuit reversed an oil company's convictions for violating the CAA and Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) in connection with its wastewater treatment system at its Corpus Christi…

A district court vacated an FWS rule listing the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species under the ESA. ESA §4(b) requires FWS to take into account conservation efforts being made by any…

The D.C. Circuit held that USDA's failure to apply general animal welfare standards to birds does not violate the APA. In 2004, USDA announced that it intended to apply the protections of the…

The Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court decision dismissing an environmental group's ESA lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service concerning the agency's approval of suction dredge…

A district court held that an Idaho "ag-gag" law that criminalizes undercover investigations of agricultural production operations violates the U.S. Constitution. Under the law, a…

The Ninth Circuit upheld California's "shark fin law", which bans the possession, sale, and distribution of shark fins within the state. An association claimed that the Magnuson-…

The Ninth Circuit upheld the National Marine Fisheries Service's (NMFS') designation of critical habitat for the southern distinct population of green sturgeon, a threatened species. The…

The Ninth Circuit granted in part and denied in part a petition challenging an NPDES permit authorizing oil and gas exploration facilities' discharge of 13 waste streams into the Beaufort Sea…

The Ninth Circuit held that the U.S. Forest Service violated ESA §7 when it failed to reinitiate consultation after FWS designated critical habitat for the Canada lynx on National Forest land. In…