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.
Idaho Wildlife Services FOIA Lawsuit
Case: Western Watersheds Project v. USDA-APHIS Wildlife Services
After Advocates for the West filed suit, Wildlife Services began releasing records that responded to Western Watersheds Project’s FOIA requests. Ultimately, Western Watersheds Project agreed to dismiss the case, in return for Wildlife Services’s agreement to release 1,800 pages of records every two weeks for the next 8 months. As the records are received, Advocates for the West and…
North Idaho Coal & Oil Trains
Case: Advocates For the West and Idaho Conservation League challenge proposed coal & oil rail bridge in North Idaho
August of 2014 — BNSF Railway announced its intention to build a second rail bridge across Lake Pend Oreille. The bridge would accommodate additional rail traffic carrying crude oil from the Bakken and coal from the Powder River Basin to refineries and ports in the Pacific Northwest. The nearly mile-long new bridge would be located…
Owyhee Wilderness Trapping
Case: Idaho Conservation League v. Bureau of Land Management
Advocates for the West is challenging BLM’s decision to allow commercial trapping in the Owyhee Canyonlands Wilderness Areas. In 2009, Congress designated six wilderness areas and sixteen wild and scenic river segments in Owyhee County in Southwest Idaho. Though close to Boise, the rugged river canyons and vast desert of the Owyhee Canyonlands offer unique opportunities…
Oregon Bull Trout Habitat Protection
Case: Oregon Wild, Friends of Living Oregon Waters, and Western Watersheds Project v. U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
December 22, 2015 — On behalf of our clients OregonWild, Friends of Living Oregon Waters, and Western Watersheds Project, Advocates for the West submitted Summary Judgment. May 26, 2015 — Advocates for the West’s Senior Attorney Laurie Rule partnered with David H. Becker to file a complaint on behalf of clients Oregon Wild, Friends of Living…
Protecting Selway Wild and Scenic Values
Case: Idaho Rivers United & Morgan and Olga Wright v. District Ranger Joe Hudson & United States Forest Service
On March 28, 2016 — The Court issued a decision in our favor. The judge upheld Wild and Scenic River values when he declared that the U.S. Forest Service ignored the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act by approving access to a state logging sale in the Selway River canyon. August 17, 2015 — Advocates for…
Treasure Valley Air Pollution
Case: Advocates For the West and Idaho Conservation League Petition to Address Air Quality Problems
February 6, 2015 — Advocates for the West and the Idaho Conservation League petitioned EPA to take urgent action to address growing air quality problems in Idaho’s Treasure Valley. It’s no surprise to locals that air quality can be less than pristine in the Treasure Valley, particularly during winter weather inversions. However, we were surprised to learn that…
Golden Hand Mining Exploration
Case: Idaho Conservation League, the Wilderness Society, EarthWorks, Friends of the Clearwater, Wilderness Watch v. Lannom, Keith B., and U.S. Forest Service
August 2, 2016 — the U.S. District Court ruled in our favor, finding that a Forest Service decision approving a mining company’s plan to deploy bulldozers, dump trucks and drilling rigs miles inside the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness violates the Wilderness Act, the National Forest Management Act and the National Environmental Policy Act….
Wildlife Services in Idaho
Case: Western Watersheds Project, WildEarth Guardians, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Clearwater, and Project Coyote v. Todd Grimm, USDA Aphis Wildlife Services, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
After Advocates for the West filed suit challenging Wildlife Services’s failure to analyze and disclose to the public the impacts of its activities in Idaho, Wildlife Services issued a draft environmental analysis that discusses some of the impacts of its activities at an Idaho-wide scale. Advocates for the West worked with our clients to draft comments…
Midas Gold Followup Case
Case: Environmental Assessment for the Golden Meadow Exploration Project
January 7th, 2015 — For the third time now, the Forest Service has issued a Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) and proposes to approve Midas Gold’s three-year exploration plan at Idaho’s historic Stibnite mining site. Twice – in response to our pressure – the Forest Service has withdrawn EAs for Midas’s exploration, citing the need for additional…
Idaho Water Quality: Fish Consumption Rate
Case: Notice of Intent to Sue EPA Under Clean Water Act for Failing to Prepare and Promulgate Toxics Standards in Idaho
April 30, 2013 — Advocates for the West sent EPA a Notice of Intent to Sue for failing to promptly revise these important water quality standards. We were able to craft a settlement agreement which gives IDEQ and other stakeholders time to complete fish consumption studies, but which sets a deadline to revise the standards…
