A district court held that the FWS violated NEPA, but not the ESA, when it issued a special rule that specifies the protective mechanisms that apply to the polar bear as a result of its threatened…

A district court, in a 279-page opinion, held that NOAA-Fisheries' 2009 biological opinion (BiOp) and reasonable and prudent alternative (RPA) addressing Central Valley Project and State…

A district court held that NOAA Fisheries' 2008/2010 biological opinion (BiOp) for the Federal Columbia River Power System is arbitrary and capricious under the ESA. In the BiOp it issued…

The D.C. Circuit held that a single sighting of a protected species is insufficient to render a property "occupied" for purposes of designating critical habitat under the ESA. In 2007,…

A district court, in a 116-page opinion, upheld the FWS' final rule listing the polar bear as a threatened species under the ESA. The FWS' decision to list the bear represents a…

A district court held that the FWS' biological opinion (BiOp) for the U.S. Army's proposed ongoing and future operations at Fort Huachuca—a major military installation in southeastern…

A district court held that the U.S. Forest Service's Public Wheeled Motorized Travel Management Decision for the Eldorado National Forest violated the ESA and the National Forest…

A district court, on a motion to amend judgment, extended the FWS' deadline for completing its biological opinion (BiOp) for the threatened delta smelt as well as the Bureau of Reclamation…

The Ninth Circuit held that a U.S. Forest Service decision that a proposed mining operation may proceed based on the miner's notice of intent (NOI) does not constitute an "agency…

The Ninth Circuit held that ESA §§7 and 9, as applied to the California delta smelt, do not violate the Commerce Clause. In 2008, the FWS issued a biological opinion (BiOp) to the Bureau of…