Mining, oil and gas, wind, solar and transmission companies who have struggled to comply with the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 (MBTA) received an early Christmas present from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s lawyer. On December 22, 2017, the Principal Deputy...
On March 3, 2017, the D.C. Circuit reinstated the rule promulgated by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) in 2012 to remove the Northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf in Wyoming from the endangered species list under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”)....
In an apparent attempt to head-off legislative changes to the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) that have been threatened by Congressional Republicans, President Obama unveiled a suite of proposed changed to the ESA species listing process. These changes,...
On Tuesday, February 10, 2015, Utah Governor Gary Herbert signed an executive order directing state agencies to implement additional state-level protection measures aimed heading off a potential federal listing of the sage grouse as “threatened” or “endangered” under...
In a January 26, 2015 letter responding to the bi-partisan co-chairs of the Western Governors’ Association State-Federal Sage-Grouse Task Force, Interior Secretary Jewell stated that, despite a congressional rider prohibiting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from...
In the 2015 Appropriations Bill (Cromnibus), via a rider, Congress prohibited Interior from writing or issuing any final listing rule under Section 4 of the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) for several species of grouse. It now looks like that action could result in...