Endangered Species Act (ESA)

The Fifth Circuit reversed a lower court decision barring the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) from issuing new permits to withdraw water from rivers that feed the estuary where…

A district court held that FWS' delay in developing and implementing a recovery plan for the Canada lynx, which was listed as threatened in 2000, is unreasonable. The ESA directs FWS to…

The Ninth Circuit held that the Bureau of Reclamation should have consulted with FWS or NMFS on impacts to the threatened delta smelt prior to renewing long-term water contracts pertaining to…

A district court upheld two court-approved settlement agreements between environmental advocacy groups and the FWS in a multi-district litigation that require the agency to determine by certain…

A district court, in a memorandum opinion, dismissed environmental groups' lawsuit against the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for…

A district court largely upheld several administrative decisions made by federal agencies approving the construction of various aspects of an offshore wind energy project in Nantucket Sound,…

The Ninth Circuit, in a 170+ page opinion, reversed in part and affirmed in part a lower court decision invalidating the FWS' 2008 biological opinion (BiOp) that concluded that the Central…

A district court extended FWS' deadline to complete its biological opinion (BiOp) for the threatened delta smelt, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's deadline to complete its related…

A district court vacated a 2008 rule issued by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) that governs the operation of coal mining activities near and through streams. The…

A district court held that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) violated NEPA and the ESA in approving certain operations at a fish hatchery on Oregon's Sandy River. NMFS regulations…