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The Supreme Court’s Top-10 Environmental Law Decisions

Legal Planet

EPA lost all three of the biggest cases since 2008. This is the case that put teeth into the Endangered Species Act. Resisting the pleas that saving a minor species of fish was not worth halting a dam project, the Court held that the statute meant what it said: protecting endangered species is a paramount value.

Law 147
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May 2020 Updates to the Climate Case Charts

Columbia Climate Law

Montana Federal Court Vacated Nationwide Permit Due to Corps of Engineers Failure to Initiate Consultation Under Endangered Species Act. The court found that there was “resounding evidence” in the record that authorized discharges may affect endangered and threatened species and critical habitat and that the U.S.

2020 40
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Climate Litigation Chart Updates – November 2016

Law Columbia

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court decision that vacated the listing of the Beringia distinct population segment (DPS) of the Pacific bearded seal subspecies as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The plaintiffs charged that the U.S.

2016 40
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Climate Attribution and the Willow Project: Federal Obligations to Evaluate the Effects of Fossil Fuel Leasing on Endangered Species

Law Columbia

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) estimates that it will produce 576 million barrels of oil over its 30-year lifetime, resulting in more than 239 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO 2 )-equivalent. This kind of closed loop, circular reasoning is inappropriate when addressing the impacts of a massive fossil fuel project.

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October 2019 Updates to the Climate Case Charts

Law Columbia

Circuit Ruled that EPA Must Consider Endangered Species in Setting Renewable Fuel Standards. Circuit Court of Appeals sent the 2018 Renewable Fuel Standards rule back to EPA after finding that EPA failed to comply with requirements of the Endangered Species Act. Center for Biological Diversity v. Bernhardt , No.

2019 40
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Using Attribution Science to Evaluate the Effects of Oil and Gas Emissions on Endangered and Threatened Species

Law Columbia

BLM estimates that the project will produce up to 576 million barrels of oil over its 30-year lifetime, resulting in indirect emissions totaling 239 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) equivalent.

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July 2021 Updates to the Climate Case Charts

Law Columbia

The federal district court for the District of Montana largely rejected challenges to federal approvals of revisions to the Flathead National Forest Land Management Plan in northwestern Montana but remanded without vacatur for additional analysis of certain issues under the Endangered Species Act.

2021 45