Chronology of Success 2021

‘Winning for the West’

February 2021

• Ruling Reverses Trump Rollback of Sage-Grouse Protections from Mining: In a strong victory won by Staff Attorney Sarah Stellberg, the U.S. District Court in Idaho held that Trump BLM acted unlawfully in cancelling an Obama Administration proposal to withdraw 10 million acres of highest priority sage-grouse habitats from new mining claims, mostly in Nevada and Idaho. In response to the court ruling, the Biden Administration is now moving forward with the 10-million acres mineral withdrawal proposal.

April 2021

• Victory over Sheep Station Ends Grazing in Centennial Mountains: In this case handled by Executive Director Laird Lucas, the Idaho federal court ruled in our favor holding that the U.S. Sheep Experimental Station—a domestic sheep industry “research” facility near Dubois, Idaho—violated the National Environmental Policy Act in releasing a final environmental impact statement that failed to address risks of domestic sheep grazing to bighorn sheep and grizzly bears, resulting in closure of the last domestic sheep allotments in the Centennial Mountains outside of Yellowstone National Park.

May 2021

• Crooked River, Bureau of Reclamation settlement: Oregon Senior Attorney Laurie Rule reached a settlement with the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) to resolve our lawsuit over BOR’s failure to provide documents under FOIA over renegotiation of water storage contracts for BOR reservoirs on Oregon’s Crooked River, where Congress has required that water be allocated to protect instream flows and fisheries. Our FOIA litigation served as “the writing on the wall” that persuaded BOR to ensure the new contracts respect instream flow and fisheries directives.

June 2021

• Sage-Grouse Oil & Gas Phase II: In her latest win in this major case challenging the Trump Administration’s issuance of thousands of oil and gas leases in sage-grouse priority habitats, Staff Attorney Sarah Stellberg won a “Phase II” summary judgment ruling holding that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated environmental disclosure and review requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in approving 605 leases in Wyoming and Montana in 2018, ordering BLM not to allow further development of them.
• BPA FOIA: In a precedent-setting victory over Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) duties to publicly disclose documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Oregon Staff Attorney Andrew Missel won a federal court decision holding BPA violated FOIA in failing to produce records about its fish and wildlife costs and power contract negotiations with long-term wholesale customers, and ordering BPA to quickly produce the documents.
• Protecting Clearwater River from Suction Dredging: Staff Attorney Bryan Hurlbutt won a resounding decision from the Idaho federal court, holding that California suction dredge miner Shannon Poe violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) on 42 separate days when he conducted illegal suction dredging on the South Fork Clearwater—habitat for ESA-listed salmon, steelhead and bull trout—in 2016, 2016 and 2018. Now the litigation will turn to what penalties Poe will have to pay and other remedies.

August 2021

• Sawtooth Diversions: Staff Attorney Bryan Hurlbutt won a ruling from U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejecting an appeal by Idaho irrigators seeking to challenge our district court victory ordering Forest Service to conduct ESA consultation over two dozen diversions in Idaho’s Sawtooth Valley that threaten imperiled salmon, steelhead and bull trout.

September 2021

• Upper Willamette Salmon and Steelhead: In Oregon Senior Attorney Laurie Rule’s latest win in this major case challenging Army Corps of Engineers’ violations of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in operating eight dams and reservoirs in the Upper Willamette Basin, U.S. District Court in Oregon entered a “remedies order” requiring Corps to take multiple actions to protect threatened salmon and steelhead by modifying reservoir operations and dam releases.
• Hells Canyon 401: Oregon Staff Attorney Lizzy Potter, working with board member and Nez Perce Tribe attorney Mike Lopez, finalized a settlement of the Tribe’s challenge to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s (ODEQ) Clean Water Act 401 certification for Idaho Power’s Hells Canyon dams. The settlement requires ODEQ to issue a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for methylmercury and mercury pollution in the Hells Canyon reach of the Snake River, and begin sockeye salmon reintroduction efforts in northeast Oregon’s Wallowa Lake–a long-term goal of the Tribe.

December 2021

• Endangered Selkirk Caribou: In her first-ever federal court argument, our newest Staff Attorney
  Hannah Clements Goldblatt won a ruling denying a motion by Idaho snowmobile association
  seeking to lift an injunction entered a decade ago to protect winter habitats of endangered Selkirk
  caribou from habitat loss and disturbance caused by snow machines.