Case: WaterWatch of Oregon Northwest Environmental Defense Center and WildEarth Guardians v. Army Corps of Engineers and R.D. James

July 15, 2021 — Advocates for the West received a strong ruling in our favor when the court issued a draft order outlining the actions that the Army Corps must immediately take to protect threatened salmon and steelhead in the Willamette River. Judge Hernandez made clear he “has no patience for further delay or obfuscation in […]

Case: Idaho Conservation League v. Shannon Poe

July 2, 2024 — The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a petition to review prior federal court rulings that found Shannon Poe in violation of the Clean Water Act when he dumped suction dredge mining waste into Idaho’s South Fork of the Clearwater River without a required pollution permit, requiring him to pay a $150,000 fine, […]

Case: Advocates for the West Intervened in Bonneville Power Administration's Bi-annual rate case

February 3, 2023 — Advocates for the West filed our reply brief. October 21, 2022 — Advocates for the West filed an opening brief urging the Court to hold that BPA violated the Northwest Power Act in making its BP-22 rate decision, to remedy that violation by remanding BPA’s decision, and to order injunctive relief. […]

Case: Friends of the Clearwater v. Cheryl F. Probert and U.S. Forest Service

February 21, 2025 — Advocates for the West filed a response in opposition to the Forest Service’s motion to dissolve the Court’s prior injunction in light of the agency’s new project approvals. On remand, the Forest Service updated its old growth analyses and issued new records of decision approving slightly modified versions of both the […]

Case: Northwest Environmental Defense Center, WildEarth Guardians, and Native Fish Society v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and National Marine Fisheries Service

July 3, 2025 — We won a conclusive victory in our Oregon federal court case involving eight U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dams and reservoirs in the Upper Willamette River basin that cause severe harm to Chinook salmon and steelhead by cutting off upstream spawning habitat and impairing downstream water quality and quantity. The Court […]

Case: WaterWatch of Oregon v. Bureau of Land Reclamation

August 25, 2020 — Advocates for the West filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to compel the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) to release certain records that are vital to WaterWatch of Oregon’s ability to participate in its mission to protect Oregon rivers and the species that depend on those rivers. March 9, 2020 […]

Case: Columbia Riverkeeper v. Scott Pruitt, Administrator of EPA

May 19, 2020 — EPA released its TMDL to control heat pollution in the Columbia and Snake rivers. EPA’s plan is further evidence that removing the four Lower Snake River dams is necessary to restore salmon and orcas. March 30, 2020 – The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the EPA’s petition to rehear this case. […]

Case: Nez Perce Tribe v. Perpetua Resources, Corp., et al.

October 2, 2023 — The Court approved settlement of the Stibnite Clean Water Act lawsuit with Nez Perce Tribe recovering $4 million for water quality improvement in the South Fork Salmon River and $1 million in attorney fees and litigation costs. August 8, 2023 — Mining company Perpetua Resources (formerly Midas Gold) will pay the […]

Case: Nez Perce Tribe v. Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Petition for Judicial Review

August 31, 2021 – The Nez Perce Tribe reached a settlement agreement with the state of Oregon resolving a case that Advocates for the West filed—along with the Tribe’s Office of Legal Counsel—challenging the state of Oregon’s Clean Water Act section 401 water quality certification for the relicensing of the Hells Canyon Complex. The Hells Canyon Complex, owned […]

Case: Petition to Intervene with Bonneville Power Administration

December 14, 2018 – BPA granted our motion to intervene, which will give us a real opportunity to dig into the true cost of the Lower Snake River dams. December 11, 2018 – Advocates for the West filed a petition to intervene with the Bonneville Power Administration’s (BPA) Joint Power and Transmission Rate Proceeding for the 2020-2021 […]