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 over 50 partners on more than 150 cases—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. It’s how the West is won.
Gas Drilling in Pronghorn Migration Path
Case: Case 2:19-cv-00146-SWS
March 14, 2023 — Advocates for the West filed our reply brief on appeal. October 28, 2022 — Advocates for the West filed our opening brief on appeal, requesting that the Court reverse the judgment of the district court and remand with instructions to vacate the NPL project’s record of decision and environmental impact statement. May 10,…
Mogollon Rim Followup Case
Case: Case 2:20-cv-00328-GMS
November 18, 2022 — Advocates for the West filed our reply brief on appeal. July 1, 2022 – Advocates for the West filed our opening brief on appeal. May 24, 2021 – Advocates for the West has filed a reply brief in support of our preliminary injunction motion to stop cattle grazing this summer in a pristine…
Micron Water Right Protest
Case: Protest Filed
December 23, 2019 – Advocates for the West teamed up with former Idaho Supreme Court chief justice Charles McDevitt to file an administrative protest with the Idaho Dept. of Water Resources of behalf of the Idaho Foundation for Parks and Lands (IFPL), objecting to a proposed new water right sought by Micron Corp. to divert…
Antelope Allotment Grazing Followup
Case: Case 1:19-cv-00516-MC
February 25, 2020 — Advocates for the West filed our reply brief in this case. December 20, 2019 — Advocates for the West filed a motion for summary judgment in this case. We are asking the court to issue a ruling in our favor based on more than a decade of the agency’s own scientific evidence and…
May 4, 2020
Kilgore Mine Exploration in Centennial Mountains
Case: Case 1:18-cv-00504-CWD
May 4, 2020 — The U.S. District Court in Idaho revoked the Forest Service’s approval of the Kilgore Project and stopped Otis Gold Corp. (now Excellon Resources Inc.) from moving forward with its exploration project. This important decision follows Judge Winmill’s December 2019 ruling that the Forest Service failed to consider Otis’s underground drilling as a…
December 20, 2019
Salmon and Steelhead Die-Offs in Columbia and Snake Rivers
Case: Columbia Riverkeeper v. Scott Pruitt, Administrator of EPA
May 19, 2020 — EPA released its TMDL to control heat pollution in the Columbia and Snake rivers. EPA’s plan is further evidence that removing the four Lower Snake River dams is necessary to restore salmon and orcas. March 30, 2020 – The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the EPA’s petition to rehear this case….
Midas Gold Clean Water Act Violations
Case: Case 1:19-cv-00307-BLW
January 9, 2020 — The court issued a decision denying Midas Gold’s motion to stay our case. December 16, 2019 — Advocates for the West argued our case opposing Midas Gold’s motion to stay and motion to dismiss our Clean Water Act case. U.S. District Judge Winmill ruled from the bench denying Midas’s motion to dismiss, and…
Hells Canyon Complex Water Quality
Case: 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…
Little Colorado River Basin Fracking
Case: Case 3:19-cv-08204-CDB
February 6, 2020 — Advocates for the West reached an agreement with the Trump administration suspending 4,200 acres of oil and gas leases on public land in Arizona’s Little Colorado River Valley as part of a joint motion filed in federal court. The federal government’s suspension of the leases prohibits any oil and gas activity…
Idaho Clean Water Act Permitting
Case: No. 18-72684
September 10, 2020 – After a six-month wait since oral argument, the 9th Circuit ruled on Advocates for the West’s challenge to the EPA’s approval of the Idaho NPDES Program. The opinion rules that we were victorious on the mens rea issue with the court holding that states must have a criminal negligence standard that…
