Last Thursday, in a case brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, and Grand Canyon Wildlands Council, the Ninth Circuit once again reversed the district court decision dismissing our case. Now our case to protect California condors and other scavengers on the Kaibab National Forest from poisoning from lead ammunition can move forward. 

“Today’s win in the Ninth Circuit pushes this important case forward, and once again rejects meritless arguments advanced by the federal government,” said Allison LaPlante, co-director of Earthrise Law Center, who argued the case before the Ninth Circuit. “The law is clear. The Kaibab can, and must, take action to protect endangered California condors from toxic lead ammunition.”

Click here to read the press release from the Center for Biological Diversity, or here, or here, to read more press coverage.

Earthrise, on behalf of the Cascade Forest Conservancy (“CFC”) filed a lawsuit against the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management decisions to allow exploratory drilling in the Green River valley, just outside the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, a part of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Earthrise successfully represented CFC in a previous challenge to the same project, with a federal court vacating the agencies' prior approval decisions in 2014. CFC is opposed to the drilling due to impacts on recreation in the Green River valley, the pristine Green River, wild steelhead populations, and the water supply of downstream communities. 

The lawsuit challenges the Bureau of Land Management decision to grant permits on December 3, 2018, and a similar decision issued by the Forest Service in February 2018. The drilling permits allow Ascot Resources Ltd., a Canadian mining company, to drill up to 63 drill holes from 23 drill sites to locate deposits of copper, gold, and molybdenum. The project would include extensive industrial mining operations 24 hours a day throughout the summer months on roughly 900 acres of public lands in the Green River valley. The prospecting permits allow for constant drilling operations, the installation of drilling-related structures and facilities, the reconstruction of 1.69 miles of decommissioned roads, and pumping up to 5,000 gallons of groundwater per day.

The proposed drilling sites are located on the slopes of Goat Mountain above the Green River and just outside the boundaries of the Mount St. Helens Volcanic National Monument. Forest openings created by the 1980 eruption draw visitors to the area to view abundant elk herds and wildflowers. The Green River trail, Goat Mountain Trail, and other trails in the Green River valley have become increasingly popular with hikers and mountain bikers for their remoteness and mountain views.

Some parcels of the national forest land in question were acquired to promote recreation and conservation under the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act (LWCFA). In the previous lawsuit filed by CFC (then the Gifford Pinchot Task Force), a federal judge invalidated Ascot’s drilling permits and held that the agencies violated the LWCFA by failing to recognize that mining development cannot interfere with the outdoor recreational purposes for which the land was acquired.

This year’s Earthrise Clinic wrapped up another great year. Students enrolled in the clinic worked 10-12 hours per week on environmental cases under the supervision of an Earthrise staff attorney, in addition to participating in a two-hour class every week.

Students worked and presented on a variety of matters this year including our case addressing nonpoint source pollution in Washington under the Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization Amendments (CZARA), several cases involving government violations of the Freedom of Information Act, our Resolution Copper and Cooke Aquaculture cases, and many of our other matters. This year, we included a session on working with expert witnesses. Thanks again to Rick Hafele for participating in this class.

Rising third year law student Jesse Caldwell had this to say about her experiences working in the clinic. "Earthrise has provided me with the opportunity to dive into real litigation. This year, I was able to work on multiple aspects of a case from initial development to the drafting of various motions, all under the supervision of attorneys who are experts in the field. The clinic allowed me to obtain a more holistic view of environmental law. I truly feel that I was able to put what I've learned in the classroom during my two years of law school to practical use. I am excited to continue to work with the Earthrise team this summer as a law clerk!"

Ben Kirsch, who worked on litigation regarding clean air compliance with staff attorney Jamie Saul, cited case development as a highlight of the class. "The past year I spent with Earthrise was an amazing experience. I was lucky enough to spend my time on one project and watch it and work to develop over the year - from the background scientific and legal research to drafting the notice letter, negotiating with opposing counsel, and being a part of all the strategizing. In addition to my substantive work, our weekly classes exposed me to a wide range of topics, legal issues, approaches, and strategies. Hearing and learning how some of the best public interest environmental attorneys approach those issues while also contributing to the conversation myself built my legal skills, gave me confidence in my abilities, and prepared me extremely well for a career the field."

The clinic wrapped up with our year-end event at Lucky Labrador Brewing Company. We hope that everyone has a great summer. Best of luck to all those graduating who are studying for the bar exam.

Earthrise Secures Agreement to Extend Ban on Target Shooting in National Forest

On behalf of our client Los Padres ForestWatch (“ForestWatch”), and alongside our local counsel and Earthrise alum Maggie Hall of the Environmental Defense Center, Earthrise attorneys Tom Buchele and Kathryn Roberts successfully settled a lawsuit challenging the Forest Service’s failure to manage recreational target shooting in the Los Padres National Forest in California.

Earthrise filed suit in August 2018 in federal court in the Central District of California, alleging that the Forest Service has long ignored its own Forest Plan for the Los Padres National Forest, which calls for a ban on unmanaged target shooting, and failed to address the proliferation of litter, soil and water contamination, wildfires, vandalism, harm to endangered wildlife, and other environmental and public safety hazards caused by unmanaged target shooting.

Prior to this suit, the Forest Plan for the Los Padres National Forest adopted a standard to prohibit unmanaged target shooting in 2005, aligning the Forest with the other National Forests in southern California, which have long had such bans. However, the Forest Service never implemented the standard. ForestWatch conducted a study in 2016 and found nearly 100 such sites throughout the Forest, with damage ranging from discarded televisions, refrigerators, and other appliances that are frequently used as targets, to trees left dead or dying from repeated shooting, and shooting sites next to known nesting sites for the critically endangered California condor.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Forest Service will re-initiate formal consultation with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to evaluate and reduce the impact of unmanaged target shooting on endangered species and their designated habitat throughout the Forest. Additionally, the agreement requires the Forest Service to maintain, publicize, and enforce a temporary ban on unmanaged target shooting in the Forest while the consultation is ongoing.

Earthrise Achieves Interim Settlement in Clean Water Act Suit Against the City of Medford

On behalf of our client Northwest Environmental Advocates (NWEA), Earthrise has recently secured an important interim settlement in our Clean Water Act citizen suit against the City of Medford, resolving certain claims and defenses while deferring others for future negotiations.

NWEA filed suit against the City in May 2018, alleging that effluent discharges from Medford’s Regional Water Reclamation Facility cause or contribute to violations of Oregon’s water quality standards in the Rogue River—home to one of the region’s most celebrated steelhead runs. One of those water quality standards is the “biocriteria,” which provides that “[w]aters of the State must be of sufficient quality to support aquatic species without detrimental changes in the resident biological communities.” The suit has its origins in a series of studies and reports issued between 2013-2018, which found that Medford’s pollutant discharges have contributed to detrimental ecological changes in the Rogue River such as increased nuisance algae growth and loss of macroinvertebrate abundance and diversity. In December 2018, the EPA finalized a decision to add the Middle Rogue River to Oregon’s list of “impaired waters” because of the well-documented biocriteria exceedances downstream of Medford’s outfall.

Following extensive discovery, the exchange of expert reports, and productive settlement discussions in late 2018 and early 2019, NWEA and Medford reached an agreement in May to stay the litigation so that the parties can work cooperatively on the water quality monitoring, data analysis, and technological assessments necessary to achieve a complete resolution of all of NWEA’s claims. The substantive terms of the interim settlement will remain confidential through April 2020, but Earthrise expects to focus its efforts during the coming months on developing one or more remedy proposals that will ensure Medford’s compliance with the biocriteria and the Clean Water Act going forward.

Earthrise attorneys Jamie Saul and Lia Comerford represent NWEA in the case.