Stoel Rives Deeply Rooted Podcast Season 3 Episode 2: Forest Management, Endangered Species, and Regulatory Frameworks with Galen Schuler, General Counsel for Green Diamond Resources
On President Trump’s first and second days in office, the new administration released a flurry of executive actions, in the form of both memorandums and executive orders, focused on the energy industry:...more
President Trump has directed the Secretary of Commerce and Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the heads of other departments and agencies of the United States as necessary, to immediately restart the work from...more
Last week, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a ruling allowing the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) to continue pursuing its large Endangered Species Act (ESA) lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and...more
This January, the Department of the Interior and the Department of Commerce announced updated civil monetary penalties for violations of federal wildlife and natural resource protection laws including the Endangered Species...more
The Western Environmental Law Center and Center for Biological Diversity (collectively “CBD”) filed a Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief (“Complaint”) in the United States District Court for the District of...more
California challenges San Bernardino air cargo facility used by Amazon - Freight Waves – January 4 - The state of California on Monday petitioned a federal appeals court to rehear its lawsuit challenging a new air...more
On December 10, 2021, the Biden Administration released the Fall 2021 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (Unified Agenda), which is a semi-annual compilation of information concerning regulations and policy...more
After a brief hiatus, incidental take of migratory birds will again be a federal crime beginning December 3, 2021. Less than 10 months after instituting a final rule declaring that incidental take of birds is not subject to...more
On June 29, 2021, fourteen members of Congress delivered a letter to Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) to use its authority to list the monarch butterfly (Danaus...more
On June 7, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court (“SCOTUS”) agreed with the Department of Justice and declined to hear a case brought by the Kansas Natural Resource Coalition (Coalition) challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife...more
DOI unveils plan to weaken protections for millions of acres of California desert - Reuters – January 13 - The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) on Wednesday proposed weakening environmental protections for millions...more
Biden picks North Carolina environmental chief to lead EPA - Associated Press – December 17 - President-elect Joe Biden this Thursday selected Michael S. Regan to serve as Administrator of the U.S. Environmental...more
White House directs agencies to relax enforcement - Los Angeles Times – September 9 - A memorandum produced by the White House Office of Management and Budget and sent to federal agency heads last week instructs them to...more
The Departments of Commerce and the Interior (Departments) have completed a proposed rule to define the term “habitat” as that term is used in the context of designating “critical habitat” under section 7(a)(2) of the...more
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a proposed rule on January 30, 2020, that narrowly interprets the protections afforded by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The new rule would provide that the MBTA prohibits only the...more
Yesterday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) released a pre-publication version of its long-awaited update to regulations governing Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) implementation (Proposed Regulations)....more
There has been much coverage and misinformation in the public discourse regarding Interior’s recently-announced revisions of regulations to implement the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Doug Wheeler and Hilary Tompkins bring...more
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the California attorney general have jointly issued an advisory regarding California’s state law protections for migratory birds. The three-page advisory affirms that...more
A number of environmental organizations filed a May 24th Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief (“Complaint”) challenging as unlawful and arbitrary and capricious the: . . . December 22, 2017 Solicitor’s...more
On April 11, 2018, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) issued a Memorandum titled “Guidance on the recent M-Opinion affecting the Migratory Bird Treaty Act” (the “Memorandum”), giving field advice to its enforcement...more
• The Opinion finds that the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) prohibits only affirmative and purposeful actions to take migratory birds. Incidental takes that are not the purpose of an action, even if they are direct and...more
In the Fall 2017 publication of the Unified Agenda of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the Department of the Interior announced its intent to revise the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s regulations governing...more
On May 18, 2017, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s summary judgment decision in favor of the Secretary of the Department of the Interior and other federal officials in an...more