WE WORK WONDERS for NATURAL WONDERS
When an environmental plight calls for lean and hard-hitting legal muscle, conservation groups, Native American Tribes, and concerned citizens call on us. Advocates for the West boosts the strength of our partners by providing free legal representation in federal court—advancing the mission of every client by putting the power of law and science on the side of the West.
Since our founding in 2003, Advocates for the West has provided free legal support to our partners with an 85% record of success.
Smart and efficient, our attorneys work with partners to develop strategic cases aimed at enforcing the nation’s bedrock environmental laws. We handle an extensive caseload with an impressive win record.
We work wonders to perpetuate natural wonders. We win for the West.
Antelope Allotment: FOIA Records Request
Case: Western Watersheds Project vs. U.S. Forest Service
June 20, 2024 — Advocates for the West filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to compel the U.S. Forest Service to release public records as required by law. The case involves two separate FOIA requests sent to the Forest Service regarding resource conflicts on the Antelope Allotment within Oregon’s Fremont-Winema National Forest. The…
Stibnite Mine Clean Water Act Section 401 Certification
Case: Idaho Conservation League, Idaho Rivers United, Save the South Fork Salmon, and Earthworks v. Idaho Department of Environmental Quality
June 25, 2024 — Advocates for the West appealed a Clean Water Act Section 401 water quality certification issued by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to Perpetua Resources Idaho, Inc. for its proposed Stibnite Gold Project. We represent the Idaho Conservation League and Idaho Rivers United in this appeal, which was filed together…
Pawnee National Grassland Oil & Gas Drilling
Case: Center for Biological Diversity v. Keith E. Berger, in his official capacity as Field Manager for the U.S. Bureau of land Management's Royal Gorge Field Office, and Bureau of Land Management
June 11, 2024 — Advocates for the West filed suit against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for failing to protect shortgrass prairie in Colorado’s Pawnee National Grassland, which is threatened by continued oil and gas extraction. The case challenges the agency’s authorization of drilling permits in and around the federally managed grassland. In issuing…
NEXT Refinery and Railyard
Case: Columbia Riverkeeper and 1000 Friends of Oregon v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
May 30, 2024 — Advocates for the West filed suit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for determining that a Rivers and Harbors Act Section 14 permit was not required for NEXT Renewable Fuels’ proposed refinery and rail yard at Port Westward near Clatskanie, Oregon. Construction for NEXT’s proposed refinery and rail yard would involve…
Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge Grazing Mismanagement
Case: WildEarth Guardians and Western Watersheds Project v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
May 14, 2024 — Advocates for the West filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) for failing to ensure cattle grazing on the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Montana’s Centennial Valley does not harm wildlife. The Refuge was established by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1935 to protect the largest wetlands complex…
Crooked River Water Rights
Case: Upper Crooked River Conservationists and Shotgun Ranch, LLC v. Water Resources Department of the State of Oregon and Water Resources Commission of the State of Oregon
March 27, 2024 — Representing WaterWatch of Oregon, Advocates for the West filed a motion to intervene in a state court water rights case to defend the Oregon Water Resources Department’s decision to grant a permit to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) allowing the release of water from Prineville Reservoir to support fish in the…
Owyhee Military Airspace Expansion
Case: Oregon Natural Desert Association, Friends of the Nevada Wilderness, and Idaho Conservation League v. U.S. Department of the Air Force
January 22, 2024 — Advocates for the West filed suit challenging the Air Force’s decision to expand and intensify its military trainings using F-15 fighter jets over Wilderness Areas and Wild and Scenic Rivers in the Owyhee Canyonlands of Idaho, Oregon, and Nevada, threatening key sage-grouse strongholds, as well as bighorn sheep and other wildlife….
Air Force Owyhee Airspace Optimization: FOIA Records Request
Case: Idaho Conservation League v. U.S. Air Force
October 10, 2023 — Advocates for the West filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to compel Mountain Home Air Force Base to release public records as required by law. The records relate to the Air Force’s proposal to expand and intensify military aircraft trainings over the Owyhee Canyonlands of southwestern Idaho, southeastern Oregon,…
Bureau of Land Management Rangeland Degradation
Case: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and Western Watersheds Project v. Debra Haaland, Tracy Stone-Manning, and U.S. Bureau of Land Management
September 13, 2023 — Advocates for the West filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for its failure to abide by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act to determine the prioritization and timing of environmental analyses for livestock grazing allotments on public…
Big Creek Airstrips
Case: Wilderness Watch, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Friends of the Clearwater, and Friends of the Bitterroot v. Linda Jackson, Mary Farnsworth, and United States Forest Service
June 20, 2023 — Advocates for the West filed a lawsuit challenging the Forest Service’s unlawful decisions to improve and expand four locations in Idaho’s Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness for aircraft landings and to permit hobby pilots to use these sites for motorized recreation. The Central Idaho Wilderness Act, which designated the River…
