News

Advocates for the West and our partners announced an agreement with mining company P4 that will result in millions of dollars in payments and other significant measures to benefit the conservation of sage-grouse and other wildlife. Under the agreement, P4—a subsidiary of Bayer AG—agrees to contribute more than $5 million to a trust fund for…

A federal district court has ruled that the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) approval of the 5,000-well Converse County Oil and Gas Project in eastern Wyoming was illegal because the agency’s groundwater modeling contained major errors and grossly underestimated the depletion of groundwater by the massive oil and gas project. Drilling in this area has…

On Friday, September 6, the U.S. Forest Service released the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and Draft Record of Decision (DROD) for the Stibnite Gold Project. The planned open-pit cyanide vat leach gold mine in Idaho’s Salmon River Mountains would jeopardize public health and clean water, harm threatened species, violate Indigenous treaty rights, and permanently…

Advocates for the West and our partners at the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and the Center for Biological Diversity won a significant victory against the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) over its program allowing pesticide spraying on millions of acres in 17 western states to kill native grasshoppers and crickets. U.S. District…

Advocates for the West and our partners filed a motion to intervene in federal court to defend the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) recently finalized Public Lands Rule. The motion comes in response to a case and motion for preliminary injunction filed by the States of Utah and Wyoming that seeks to prevent the BLM…

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the longstanding requirement that suction dredge miners must obtain a Clean Water Act permit before engaging in the destructive activity. The Supreme Court rejected a petition to review prior federal court rulings that found gold miner Shannon Poe, of California, violated the Clean Water Act when he dumped suction…

A lawsuit challenging decades of unlawful pollution discharges into the Snake River at a Grand View, Idaho Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) will move forward following a decision by a federal court judge. On June 24, 2024, Idaho Chief District Judge David C. Nye upheld the Clean Water Act (CWA) lawsuit, filed in May 2023,…

Advocates for the West filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for failing to protect shortgrass prairie in Colorado’s Pawnee National Grassland from continued oil and gas extraction. We’re representing the Center for Biological Diversity in the case. “Pawnee National Grassland is increasingly known not for its incredible bird watching, stargazing, and…

Advocates for the West filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Army Corps) for determining that a Rivers and Harbors Act Section 14 permit was not required for NEXT Renewable Fuels’ proposed refinery and rail yard at Port Westward near Clatskanie, Oregon. Construction for NEXT’s proposed refinery and rail yard would involve…

Advocates for the West filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) for failing to ensure cattle grazing on the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Montana’s Centennial Valley does not harm wildlife. We are representing WildEarth Guardians and Western Watersheds Project in the case. Despite long-standing recognition of grazing’s harmful…