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.
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…
Little Colorado River Basin Fracking
Case: Center For Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, and WildEarth Guardians v. Raymond Suazo, BLM Arizona State Office, David Bernhardt, Bureau of Land Management
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: Idaho Conservation League v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Andrew Wheeler
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…
Duck Creek Livestock Grazing
Case: Western Watersheds Project v. Interior Board of Land Appeals & U.S. Department of the Interior
February 17, 2021 – Advocates for the West filed our opening brief with the 10th Circuit Court requesting a reversal of the district court’s erroneous dismissal for lack of Article III standing. Our brief argues that the Court should hold a 2017 decision of the Interior Board of Land Appeals as unlawful and force the defendants…
Sage-Grouse RMP Challenge
Case: Western Watersheds Project, WildEarth Guardians, Center for Biological Diversity and Prairie Hills Audubon Society v. David Bernhardt, Joseph R. Balash, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Forest Service
February 11, 2021 – U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill ruled strongly in our favor on this case, overturning a Trump Administration decision to strip protections from 10 million acres, mostly in Nevada and Idaho, to allow mining in critical habitat for greater sage-grouse. The court upheld our claim that the BLM failed to provide a…
Air Force Urban Warfare Training
Case: Anne Hausrath, John Wheaton, Joanie Fauci, Meg Fereday, Roger Rosentretter, Kathryn Railsback, Dale Reynolds, and Great Old Broads for Wilderness v. United States Department of the Airforce
October 1, 2020 — The court ruled a sweeping victory for Advocates for the West in our case challenging Air Force urban military training exercises over Boise and other parts of Southern Idaho. March 27, 2020 — Advocates for the West filed our reply brief in this case, as well as our opposition to the Air Force’s…
Oil and Gas Lease Sales Near Bears Ears National Monument
Case: Friends of Cedar Mesa v. U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management, and Kent Hoffman
May 3, 2024 — The Bureau of Lands Management (BLM) issued a decision cancelling 25 parcels, totaling more than 40,296 acres, from oil and gas leasing in the Lands Between—a major win for this tremendously significant cultural landscape and for descendant communities across the region. The decision follows Advocates for the West’s 2023 settlement requiring BLM…
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…
