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…

A district court held that FWS violated NEPA when it issued a rule increasing from five years to 30 years the maximum duration of programmatic permits for wind energy developers to take bald and…

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 upheld a 2010 FWS rule designating critical habitat for the threatened Santa Ana sucker, a small freshwater fish native to several California rivers and streams. In 2004, FWS…

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…

The Ninth Circuit upheld the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement's (BSEE's) approval of oil spill response plans for an oil company's leases in the Beaufort and Chukchi…