Montana youth climate victory defense: Attend in person or livestream the Montana Supreme Court
On Wednesday, July 10th, the Montana Supreme Court will hold oral argument in landmark youth-led constitutional climate case, Held v. State of Montana. What: The Montana Supreme Court will host a 90-minute oral argument in Held v. State of Montana. Attorneys for the...
Groups petition Oil Conservation Commission to take action to stop growth of staggering $8 billion oil and gas cleanup gap
Today, advocates across New Mexico petitioned the Oil Conservation Commission to modernize woefully outdated laws governing oil and gas cleanup, financial assurance and operator transfers. New Mexico's oil and gas industry is inadequately bonded to the tune of $8.18...
Missed opportunity for climate, progress for conservation in BLM management plan for the Colorado River Valley and Grand Junction field offices
Today, the Bureau of Land Management released its proposed resource management plan/final supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) for the Colorado River Valley and Grand Junction field offices, which will determine how 2 million acres of land in western...
Petitioners file motion to press Montana Public Service Commission to fulfill duty to consider climate
A subset of petitioners who requested that the Montana Public Service Commission (PSC) comply with its statutory and constitutional duty to consider the impacts of climate change in its regulation of gas and electric utilities has filed a writ of mandamus requesting...
BLM safeguards 98.9% of Sonoran Desert National Monument, its Indigenous resources, desert life from recreational shooting
Late yesterday, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced it will close 480,496 acres (98.9%) of Sonoran Desert National Monument to recreational shooting, once allowed everywhere within this quiet oasis of saguaro cacti, native desert life, ancient petroglyphs,...
Conservation groups celebrate plan to restore grizzly bears to North Cascades
Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s rule to restore grizzly bears in Washington’s North Cascades went into effect. The agency passed the rule under section 10(j) of the Endangered Species Act, which allows it to establish experimental populations of listed...
Wildlife groups initiate legal action: Feds too slow to protect Sonoran desert tortoise
Today, WildEarth Guardians, Western Watersheds Project, and the Desert Tortoise Council and Tucson Herpetological Society, represented by the Western Environmental Law Center, are asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife to reconsider its 2022 decision to deny protective...
Biden administration to end coal leasing in Powder River Basin
The Biden administration announced today that it will end coal leasing in the Powder River Basin – the largest coal-producing region in the U.S. The decision represents an historic shift in federal management of coal in the region, recognizing that the market has...
Conservation groups intervene against Signal Peak’s lawsuit seeking to rush review of nation’s largest underground coal mine
Today, conservation groups simultaneously moved to intervene and dismiss a lawsuit brought by Signal Peak Energy, which is seeking to force the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) to rush the environmental review of a proposed...
Bedrock community, environmental law modernization will supercharge just transition, environmental justice
Early this morning, the Biden administration’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) completed a two-phased effort to modernize rules implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a bedrock community and environmental protection law in the U.S. The final...