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 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…
Idaho Water Quality: Antidegredation
Case: Notice of Intent to Sue EPA Under Clean Water Act for Approving Idaho's Antidegradation Rule
The Clean Water Act requires every state to adopt Antidegradation Rules to ensure water quality is maintained and not degraded by new discharges of pollution. A key component of each state’s Antidegradation Rules is to prohibit new pollution discharges into the state’s “high quality” lakes, rivers, and streams unless the state determines, after thorough analysis with…
Protecting Idaho’s Bighorn Sheep
Case: Idaho Wool Growers Association, et al. v. Tom Vilsack and The Wilderness Society
March 2, 2016 — The Ninth Circuit court issued an opinion in our favor affirming the district court’s summary judgement. The opinion was written by Judge Berzon of the Ninth Circuit, and is the culmination of litigation that began in 2007. It affirms that domestic sheep pose a substantial risk of disease transmission to bighorn…
Gunnison sage-grouse more than “threatened”
Case: Intent to Sue Over Violations of Section 4 of the Endangered Species Act
September 27, 2018 — A federal court decision preserves the listing status for Gunnison sage-grouse as a threatened species, with the critical habitat the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service designated for it intact. Fewer than 3,000 of this unique sage-grouse species remain, clustered around Colorado’s Gunnison Basin. Advocates for the West represented WildEarth Guardians and…
Idaho Predator Hunt Derby
Case: Defenders of Wildlife, Center for Biological Diversity, Western Watersheds Project, and Project Coyote v. Kraayenbrink, Joseph J., and Bureau of Land Management
November 24, 2014 — In response to our lawsuit, BLM backed down from its decision to allow the derby to take place on the public lands managed by the agency. BLM informed us of the decision just hours before we planned to submit our brief asking the Court to stop this year’s hunt. Director of…
Salmon-Challis Water Diversions
Case: Idaho Conservation League v. U.S. Forest Service and NOAA Fisheries
Advocates for the West is pleased to announce we settled this case against the Forest Service and NOAA Fisheries for failing to complete Endangered Species Act consultations for over 100 water diversions on streams in the Salmon-Challis National Forest in Idaho’s Upper Salmon River basin. The Salmon-Challis National Forest is home to important populations of threatened…
Great Basin sage-grouse
Case: Western Watersheds Project v. Dirk Kempthorne, Department of the Interior, and Bureau of Land Management
This large case challenges several hundred grazing permits, oil and gas leases, and other land management decisions approved by BLM during the last years of the Bush Administration, which individually and together harm the Great Basin core population of greater sage-grouse in Idaho and Nevada. BLM violated basic federal environmental laws — including the National Environmental Policy…
Oregon Spotted Frog on Antelope Allotment
Case: Concerned Friends of the Winema, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Western Watersheds Project, Oregon Wild, and Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Forest Service
January 24, 2017 — In an exciting wrap-up to this important case, District Judge Aiken adopted in-full Judge Clarke’s ruling, which means that the biological opinion in question is vacated and the Forest Service must reinitiate consultation over the spotted frog. The agency will also be unable to issue new permits unless they demonstrate to…
Midas Gold Mining Exploration
Case: Idaho Conservation League, and Nez Perce Tribe v. U.S. Forest Service, NOAA Fisheries, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services
June 23rd, 2014 — The U.S. Forest Service issued a letter to Midas Gold revoking its earlier approval of the company’s exploration plans, known as the Golden Meadows Exploration Project. The Forest Service revoked its earlier approval of the project and ordered Midas Gold to halt all work at the site, and that if Midas…
Salmon River Navigability
Case: Salmon River Navigability challenge by Idaho Conservation League
January of 2014 — Advocates for the West’s Staff Attorney Bryan Hurlbutt filed a petition on behalf of the Idaho Conservation League asking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to revisit its determination from the 1930′s that Idaho’s Salmon River is not navigable. Because of this flawed determination, the Salmon River and endangered fish species are not…
