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Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA)

Robinson+Cole Environmental Law +

First Circuit Rejects Challenges to Federal Permits for Vineyard Wind 1

In companion rulings favoring offshore wind developers and federal agencies, the First Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed rulings issued by the District Court (D. Mass.) and dismissed challenges brought by two...more

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Advocacy Groups File Endangered Species Act Suit Against Virginia Offshore Wind Project

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On March 18, three advocacy organizations and their members filed a lawsuit challenging an offshore wind project against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). The...more

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New Jersey Federal Court Dismisses Challenge to Incidental Take Authorizations for Offshore Wind Projects

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On February 29, 2024, the federal District Court for the District of New Jersey dismissed a challenge to eleven incidental take authorizations (ITAs) issued for offshore wind projects off the coasts of New York and New Jersey...more

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Fish and Wildlife Service Increases Civil Penalties for Violations of Federal Wildlife Protection Laws

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On February 2, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) published a final rule increasing civil monetary penalties for violations of several federal wildlife and natural resource protection laws (Final Rule).  The...more

(ACOEL) | American College of Environmental...

Whales, Lobsters, and the Paradox of Winning Too Much

“We’re gonna win so much, you may even get tired of winning. And you’ll say, ‘Please, please. It’s too much winning. We can’t take it anymore.’” That was what then-candidate Trump promised life would be like in America...more

Mintz

This never-ending NIMBY challenge to the Vineyard Wind project illustrates that we may be winning renewable energy battles but...

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Over two years ago I wrote about a lawsuit filed by a Connecticut-based solar farm developer with a summer home in Martha's Vineyard seeking to enjoin the Vineyard Wind project off the Massachusetts coast. This particular...more

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Federal Court Dismisses Fishing Industry Challenge to Massachusetts Offshore Wind Project

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On Thursday, October 12, 2023, Judge Indira Talwani of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted summary judgment in favor of the United States Department of the Interior and Vineyard Wind, and denied...more

Bracewell LLP

Offshore Wind Litigation: Court Denies Fishing Groups’ Challenge to Major Offshore Wind Project

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Judge Indira Talwani of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts has rejected another challenge to federal permits and approvals for the Vineyard Wind Project (Vineyard Wind or the Project). Vineyard Wind is...more

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Massachusetts Court Rejects Marine Mammal Protection Act Challenge to Vineyard Wind Project

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On Friday, August 4, 2023, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted summary judgment in favor of the National Marine Fisheries Service (“NMFS”) in the case of Melone v. Coit et al,...more

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2023 Inflation Adjustments to Civil Penalties for Violations of Wildlife Protection Laws Announced

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This January, the Department of the Interior and the Department of Commerce announced updated civil monetary penalties for violations of federal wildlife and natural resource protection laws including the Endangered Species...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

California Offshore Wind Lease Sale Announced by Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

On October 21, 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (“BOEM”) published a Final Sale Notice (“FSN”) for commercial leasing for wind power on California’s Outer Continental Shelf (“OCS”). Specifically, the FSN...more

(ACOEL) | American College of Environmental...

Right Whale in the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time

On November 16, 2021, the First Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion reversing a district court’s order enjoining the National Marine Fisheries Service (“NMFS”) rule that barred the use of lobster traps with traditional...more

Perkins Coie

EIS and Biological Opinion Invalidated for Offshore Alaska Oil Project

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The Ninth Circuit vacated U.S. Department of the Interior approvals for a proposed offshore oil drilling and production facility in Alaska after finding its EIS improperly failed to consider impacts associated with foreign...more

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NMFS Proposes Rule to Reduce North Atlantic Right Whale Entanglements in Fishing Gear

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On December 31, 2020, the National Marine Fisheries Service (“NMFS”) proposed to amend regulations implementing the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan (“ALWTRP” or “Plan”) with the stated goal of reducing  the...more

Husch Blackwell LLP

Toxic Tort Monitor: Missouri Senate Bill 591 Provides Clarity And Safeguards For Defendants

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On May 12, 2020, the Missouri legislature passed Senate Bill 591 (SB 591), which provides major changes related to how punitive damages are assessed in civil and medical malpractice actions and brings significant reform to...more

Beveridge & Diamond PC

Court Finds American Lobster Fishery Requires Incidental Take Statement for Impacts on Endangered North Atlantic Right Whale

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As commercial fisheries across the United States continue to adjust operations in the face of new legal requirements, such as the shift from single-species to ecosystem-based management, one challenge in particular has...more

(ACOEL) | American College of Environmental...

The Seals of Disapproval, and the Return of Jaws

We are fortunate to live on Cape Cod, where the abundant marine life is a consistent source of joy.  We watch osprey and terns diving for fish, and crabs scuttling along the beach.  The local radio station announces when the...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

CIT Rejects Government’s Request To Stay Ban On Mexican Seafood

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In a recent decision, the Court of International Trade (CIT) denied the government’s request for a stay of the preliminary injunction that the CIT had implemented in July, banning the importation of certain seafood from...more

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U.S. Supreme Court Passes on Otter Case with Chevron Implications

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This week, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in California Sea Urchin Commission v. Combs (“Combs”), Docket No. 17-1636, an appeal from a Ninth Circuit decision regarding endangered Southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris...more

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Citing concerns for endangered vaquita, Court declines to lift ban on import of some seafood

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On October 22, 2018, the U.S. Court of International Trade denied the request of various federal agencies to stay an injunction banning the import of Mexican seafood caught with gill nets in the Gulf of California. ...more

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Endangered Species Case Sparks Chevron Deference Debate

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As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares for its upcoming October 2018 term, one petition concerning an endangered sea otter relocation program is attracting a lot of attention as a potential vehicle for the Court to consider the...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

CIT Leaves No Doubt That Ban On Certain Mexican Fish Is Effective Immediately

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In a recent opinion, the United States Court of International Trade (CIT) upheld its categorical ban of the importation of fish and fish products caught with gillnets in the habitat of the critically endangered vaquita, off...more

Nossaman LLP

U.S. House Passes Bill Allowing Removal of Sea Lions to Protect Endangered Fish Species

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The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the “Endangered Salmon and Fisheries Predation Prevention Act” (Act) (H.R. 2083), co-sponsored by Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA) and Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR), allowing for...more

Weintraub Tobin

Ninth Circuit Denies Copyright Protection To Monkeys

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Does anyone think that a monkey has standing to bring a copyright infringement lawsuit? In Naruto v. Slater, 888 F.3d 418 (9th Cir. 2018), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said no, but not without carefully considering the...more

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Department of the Interior Announces Actions to Expedite Energy Development with Potential Consequences for Listed Species

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On October 25, 2017, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) released a report entitled “Review of the Department of the Interior Actions that Potentially Burden Domestic Energy” identifying agency actions that potentially...more

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