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.
Bonneville Power Administration: Ratemaking
Case: Advocates for the West Intervened in Bonneville Power Administration's Bi-annual rate case
February 3, 2023 — Advocates for the West filed our reply brief. October 21, 2022 — Advocates for the West filed an opening brief urging the Court to hold that BPA violated the Northwest Power Act in making its BP-22 rate decision, to remedy that violation by remanding BPA’s decision, and to order injunctive relief….
Bureau of Reclamation: FOIA Records Request
Case: WaterWatch of Oregon v. Bureau of Land Reclamation
August 25, 2020 — Advocates for the West filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to compel the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) to release certain records that are vital to WaterWatch of Oregon’s ability to participate in its mission to protect Oregon rivers and the species that depend on those rivers. March 9, 2020…
Perpetua Resources (formerly Midas Gold) Clean Water Act Violations
Case: Nez Perce Tribe v. Perpetua Resources, Corp., et al.
October 2, 2023 — The Court approved settlement of the Stibnite Clean Water Act lawsuit with Nez Perce Tribe recovering $4 million for water quality improvement in the South Fork Salmon River and $1 million in attorney fees and litigation costs. August 8, 2023 — Mining company Perpetua Resources (formerly Midas Gold) will pay the…
Hells Canyon Complex Water Quality
Case: Nez Perce Tribe v. Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Petition for Judicial Review
August 31, 2021 – The Nez Perce Tribe reached a settlement agreement with the state of Oregon resolving a case that Advocates for the West filed—along with the Tribe’s Office of Legal Counsel—challenging the state of Oregon’s Clean Water Act section 401 water quality certification for the relicensing of the Hells Canyon Complex. The Hells Canyon Complex, owned…
Bonneville Power Administration Ratemaking
Case: Petition to Intervene with Bonneville Power Administration
December 14, 2018 – BPA granted our motion to intervene, which will give us a real opportunity to dig into the true cost of the Lower Snake River dams. December 11, 2018 – Advocates for the West filed a petition to intervene with the Bonneville Power Administration’s (BPA) Joint Power and Transmission Rate Proceeding for the 2020-2021…
BPA–Idaho Accord Extension
Case: Comments on the Draft BPA-Idaho Accord Extension Agreement
September 26, 2018 — Advocates for the West submitted comments on the draft Bonneville Power Administration’s Idaho Accord extension agreement on behalf of Idaho Conservation League, Idaho Rivers United, Idaho Wildlife Federation and Idaho Chapter of the Sierra Club. August 2018 — We sent a letter to BPA expressing concern over the lack of public notice…
Protecting Idaho Wild and Scenic Rivers
Case: Idaho Rivers United and Friends of the Clearwater v. Cheryl F. Probert, U.S. Forest Service, NOAA Fisheries, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
May 12th, 2016 — Advocates for the West won a federal court order blocking the U.S. Forest Service from moving forward with its plan to build roads and clear cut along Idaho’s Selway and Middle Fork Clearwater Wild and Scenic Rivers. The Forest Service’s plan was in response to the 2014 Johnson Bar fire, which burned…
East Boulder Creek Gold Mining
Case: Idaho Conservation League v. U.S. Forest Service
We are pleased that East Boulder Creek will be better put back together for fish and wildlife that depend on it and hope that this case was a wake up call to the Forest Service that similar mining projects cannot simply be exempted from environmental review. October 28 2015 — We favorably dismissed our lawsuit…
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….
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…
