Jan 26, 2021 | News Release
As President Biden prepares to announce a moratorium on new oil and gas leasing and permitting on public lands and oceans, 32 climate, conservation, religious and business groups in Colorado today announced support for the move in a letter to the president. Biden...
Jan 21, 2021 | News Release
Moving to protect the climate, public health, and to further environmental justice, a coalition on Tuesday filed a complaint in federal court challenging two oil and gas lease sales in New Mexico’s Greater Chaco region. Today’s filing is a supplement to an earlier...
Jan 21, 2021 | News Release
As Joe Biden prepared to assume the presidency this week, a coalition filed a lawsuit to overturn the Trump administration’s sale of more than 1 million acres of public lands in the American West for fracking. Filed in federal court by WildEarth Guardians, Physicians...
Jan 19, 2021 | News Release
Today, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) upheld the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s denial of a key permit for the proposed Jordan Cove LNG export terminal and Pacific Connector fracked gas pipeline. The Jordan Cove LNG project cannot move...
Jan 14, 2021 | News Release
Today, conservationists challenged a U.S. Forest Service decision that would allow livestock grazing across 271,665 acres of the Greater Gila bioregion in the Apache-Sitgreaves and Gila National Forests in Arizona and New Mexico over a 10-year period. This massive...
Jan 14, 2021 | Nationwide Wolf Delisting, News Release
Today, a coalition of Western wolf advocates challenged the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to prematurely strip wolves of federal protections in the contiguous 48 states, in violation of the Endangered Species Act. The most recent data from the U.S. Fish...
Jan 13, 2021 | News Release
Yesterday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced the availability of Burlington Northern Railway Company’s (BNSF) application for an “incidental take permit” (ITP) that would allow the company to lawfully kill up to 18 federally protected grizzly bears...
Jan 13, 2021 | News Release, Northern Spotted Owl
Today, with six days remaining in the Trump administration, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a final rule eliminating 3.4 million acres of critical habitat for the northern spotted owl in Washington state, Oregon, and California. This decision comes one...
Jan 12, 2021 | News Release
A coalition of groups today challenged five Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease sales encompassing 112 parcels and 58,297 acres of public lands in central and eastern Montana and North Dakota. The lawsuit says the agency failed to fully assess the potential...
Jan 6, 2021 | News Release
In light of the events in our nation’s capital today, the Western Environmental Law Center issues the following statement: We are united as an organization in our dedication to the rule of law. It is for this reason we condemn today’s events in Washington, D.C., and...