EAJA Awards
| Agency | Agency subcomponent | Name | Award date | Award amount | Awardees | Claims description | Finding basis | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs | Null | Clement v. Wilkie |
$ 8,892
|
WHITCOMB, JOSEPH | Benefits under Title 38 | BVA committed a remandable or reversable error | Show | |
| U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs | Null | Clay v. Wilkie |
$ 8,083
|
WHITCOMB, JOSEPH | Benefits under Title 38 | BVA committed a remandable or reversable error | Show | |
| U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs | Null | Hooks v. Wilkie |
$ 5,596
|
WHITCOMB, JOSEPH | Benefits under Title 38 | BVA committed a remandable or reversable error | Show | |
| U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs | Null | Leary v. Wilkie |
$ 4,199
|
WHITCOMB, JOSEPH | Benefits under Title 38 | BVA committed a remandable or reversable error | Show | |
| U.S. Department of Agriculture | Forest Service | WildEarth Guardians et al v. Forson et al |
$ 308,742
|
Western Environmental Law Center, Oregon | Failed to execute its duties under the ESA by not initiating consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service on gray wolves. Claim added in Amended Complaint filed on 10/9/2017 and 10/23/2017. Decision is inconsistent with the Forest Plan (i.e., inconsistent with standards and guidelines for Rocky Mountain elk and mule deer habitat - disturbance during caving season; failed to comply with road density standards/guidelines; failure to minimize stream crossings; failed to comply with ROS (motorized trails in semi-primitive non-motorized areas); failed to comply with old growth and scabland area requirements (i.e., new road construction should be avoided). Failure to take a “hard look” at impacts (i.e., failure to provide accurate baseline data on road, sediment, elk and elk habitat, impacts to gray wolves, wolf habitat or wolf prey; failure to consider cumulative impacts - impacts from grazing on streams, sediment, vegetation; Blue Mountains Resiliency Project, unauthorized OHV use). Failed to demonstrate implementation of and compliance with “minimization criteria” (i.e., damage to soil, watersheds, vegetation, harassment of wildlife and destruction of habitat, minimize conflicts of forest users). | Failed to execute its duties under the ESA by not initiating consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service on gray wolves. 1) Failed to adequately demonstrate consistency with its Forest Plan regarding Standards and Guidelines associated with elk calving habitat and elk wallows; 2) Improperly amended INFISH “riparian management objectives” by relying on non-site-specific data; 3) Failed to demonstrate consistency with its own road density requirements; 4) Failed to comply with INFISH requirements in modifying Resource Management Objectives. 5) Failed to take a “hard look” at the Project’s effects on gray wolves. and elk security habitat vis-a-vis open and closed user-created roads. 6) Failure to disclose and analyze direct, indirect, and cumulative effects of elk-caving and rutting sites. 7) Cumulative impacts analysis was insufficient, and arbitrary and capricious, as to the road density and user-created and closed roads analysis. 8) Failed to comply with the Travel Management Rule’s minimization criteria. | Show | |
| U.S. Department of the Interior | Bureau of Land Management (BLM) | Western Organizaton of Resource Councils, et al. v. BLM |
$ 238,685
|
Western Environmental Law Center | Plaintiffs challenged Federal Defendants' approval of Resource Management Plans ("RMPs") for two adjacent field offices in the Powder River Basin: the Miles City Field Office in Montana and the Buffalo Field Office in Wyoming. Federal Defendants approved these RMPs, and 10 others, through a single Record of Decision. | Court found that BLM did not have a reasonable range of alternatives for coal lands made available for leasing in Miles City and Buffalo RMPs | Show | |
| U.S. Department of the Interior | Bureau of Land Management | Citizens for a Healthy Community v. BLM |
$ 56,000
|
Western Environmental Law Center | Plaintiffs challenged the adequacy of the agencies NEPA analysis for two oil and gas development project approvals. Claims related to the range of alternatives considered, analysis of cumulative climate change impacts, non-use of social cost of carbon protocol, analysis of impacts of hydraulic fracturing, analysis of impacts to big game, analysis of cumulative impacts to air quality and water quantity, and analysis of indirect greenhouse gas impacts. | Plaintiffs prevailed only on the indirect greenhouse gas claim. The court found that agencies (BLM and FS) had failed to quantify and analyze end-use ("downstream") greenhouse gas emissions for the projects. | Show | |
| U.S. Department of the Interior | Bureau of Land Management | National Trust for Historic Preservation et al. v. Bernhardt |
$ 110,000
|
Western Environmental Law Center | Plaintiffs alleged that BLM violated Presidential Proclamation 7397, FLPMA, the NHPA, and NEPA by continuing to allow recreational shooting in the Sonoran Desert National Monument. | Plaintiffs’ and Federal-Defendants’ have reached a stipulated settlement agreement (Doc. 88) in this case and filed a joint motion to dismiss. | Show | |
| U.S. Department of the Interior | Office of Surface Mining | Wildearth Guardians and Montana Environemntal Information Center v. Haaland |
$ 115,000
|
Western Environmental Law Center | WildEarth Guardians and Montana Environmental Information Center filed a complaint alleging OSMRE violated NEPA and the APA in recommending approval of the mining plan modification for Federal coal leased to the Spring Creek Mine pursuant to the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920. | n/a | Show | |
| U.S. Department of the Interior | Bureau of Land Management | Cascadia Wildlands v. Bureau of Land Management |
$ 30,000
|
Western Environmental Law Center | This case involved a challenge to the BLM's development of a 2020 Categorical Exclusion for salvage projects and the Upper Willamette Field Office's Harvest Land Base salvage project in Oregon. The complaint alleged violations of the FLPMA, NEPA, and ESA. | Parties agreed to a settlement and BLM will issue a Federal Register notice proposing to eliminate the Salvage CX from the Department's NEPA implementing procedures for the BLM at Chapter 11 of Part 516 of the Departmental Manual, and will exercise best efforts to complete the administrative process and to issue a new decision on this proposal by September 2024. | Show | |
| U.S. Department of the Interior | Bureau of Land Management | Citizens for a Healthy Community v. BLM |
$ 90,000
|
Western Environmental Law Center | Petitioners challenged BLM's approval of the Uncompahgre Resource Management Plan and Fish and Wildlife Service's programmatic biological opinion for Gunnison sage grouse. They allege violations of NEPA, FLPMA, ESA, APA, Federal Vacancy Reform Act and the U.S. Constitution. | BLM agreed to complete additional analysis and make a new decision. | Show | |
| U.S. Department of the Interior | Bureau of Land Management | Dine Citizens Against Ruining the Environment v. BLM |
$ 150,000
|
Western Environmental Law Center | Plaintiffs challenge oil and gas leases. Plaintiffs argue the BLM violated NEPA by (1) failing to analyze the context and severity of the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions on climate change; (2) failing to evaluate foreseeable direct and cumulative human health impacts and prepare a Health Impact Assessment; (3) failing to analyze disproportionate effects of oil and gas lease sales on environmental justice populations; (4) failing to provide a comment period on the draft EA for the lease sale and limiting the protest period to 10 days; and (5) failing to prepare an EIS when the leases will allegedly have significant impacts to air quality, water quality and quantity, climate, public health, and environmental justice. | BLM agreed to seek voluntary remand of the challenged leasing decisions and prepare supplemental NEPA analysis | Show | |
| U.S. Department of the Interior | Bureau of Land Management | WildEarth Guardians v. Haaland |
$ 242,500
|
Western Environmental Law Center | In three related lawsuits, Plaintiffs challenged BLM oil and gas lease sales in MT, WY, UT, CO, and NM. They allege that the BLM violated NEPA by failing to (1) analyze direct, indirect, and cumulative GHG emissions of the lease sales and the impacts on climate change; (2) prepare an EIS for GHG emissions that could significantly impact climate; and (3) prepare a programmatic EIS analyzing climate impacts of entire BLM oil and gas leasing program. Plaintiffs seek to vacate the leasing decisions, EAs, and FONSIs and enjoin applications for permit to drill until the BLM prepares a programmatic EIS analysis | the District Court stated “BLM failed to take a ‘hard look’ at GHG emissions from the Wyoming Lease Sales, and therefore the EAs and FONSIs issued for those sales did not comply with NEPA." | Show | |
| U.S. Department of the Interior | Bureau of Land Management | WildEarth Guardians, et al. v Haaland |
$ 115,000
|
Western Environment Law Center/Melissa Hornbein and Barbara Chillcott and Earthjustice/Thomas Delehanty and Elizabeth Forsyth | Plaintiffs challenged the NEPA in connection with a number of oil and gas leasing sales conducted by the BLM Montana/Dakotas in 2019 and 2020. | Court found BLM conducted inadequate NEPA analysis. | Show | |
| U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs | Null | Robinson v. Wilkie |
$ 7,071
|
WEST, TRAVIS J | Benefits under Title 38 | BVA committed a remandable or reversable error | Show |