Articles

Fighting to keep public lands open to all

June 10, 2016 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

Yesterday, we filed our final trial court briefs in Granat v. USDA, PLF’s challenge to the Forest Service’s mass road and trail closure on the Plumas National Forest in northeastern California.  Our case focuses on the agency’s decision to close to all motor vehicle access nearly 700 miles of existing, legally authorized roads ...

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US Supreme Court declines to hear Drakes Bay Oyster Company appeal

June 30, 2014 | By TONY FRANCOIS

Pacific Legal Foundation is very disappointed that the court declined to hear this very important case.  For now, Americans in certain parts of the country will remain subject to second class citizenship, because the federal courts are closed to them when federal agencies terminate their permits and licenses, even when those actions destroy jobs ...

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U.S. Forest Service says man and nature cannot peacefully coexist

May 16, 2014 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

The U. S. Forest Service summarily closed 90% of the lawful, user-created motorized routes in Tahoe National Forest, thereby constructing a virtual roadblock to keep all but the most able-bodied away from the forest’s aesthetic and recreational opportunities.  By its decision  denying access, the Forest Service showed its true colors ...

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Drakes Bay Oyster Company seeks review in US Supreme Court

April 14, 2014 | By TONY FRANCOIS

Today, Drakes Bay Oyster Company filed its petition for certiorari in the United States Supreme Court, after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided that the federal government’s decision to shut down the oyster farm is immune from judicial review. The petition raises a fundamental question that strikes at the heart of the administrative ...

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Drakes Bay Oyster Company to seek relief at United States Supreme Court

January 15, 2014 | By TONY FRANCOIS

Late yesterday, after the Ninth Circuit denied its petition for rehearing, Drakes Bay Oyster Company announced in a statement that it will seek relief in the United States Supreme Court.  The oyster farm is fighting for survival after the Department of the Interior refused to renew a permit that the farm needs to remain in … ...

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Ninth circuit denies rehearing in oyster farm case

January 14, 2014 | By TONY FRANCOIS

This morning the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied Drakes Bay Oyster Company’s petition for rehearing, and issued an amended opinion in the case which once again upholds the trial court’s decision to deny the oyster farm an injunction which would prevent the closure of the farm. The oyster farm will have to consider its … ...

Articles

The ESA and economic impacts

September 12, 2013 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

Last month, as I’ve noted already, the United States Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service finalized joint amendments to their regulations implementing the Endangered Species Act’s critical habitat provisions.  One of these amendments codifies the agencies’ recent practice of assessing only the � ...

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Enviros give up Sierra Nevada forest challenge

June 20, 2013 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

In Pacific Rivers Council v. United States Forest Service, environmental groups challenged the environmental review documents associated with the Forest Service’s 2004 framework to govern timber harvesting in the Sierra Nevada National Forest.  (Basically, the environmentalists disagreed with the government’s decision to reduce forest ...

Articles

A victory for timber harvesting

June 18, 2013 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

Last week, the Ninth Circuit ruled in Conservation Congress v. United States Forest Service that the district court properly denied the environmentalists’ request for a preliminary injunction to stop a timber harvest in Northern spotted owl habitat in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.  The environmentalists argued that the Service’s ...