Idaho Conservation League v. U.S. Forest Service

Two conservation groups filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service in federal court in Idaho challenging the approval of a mining exploration project. The plaintiffs asserted that the Forest Service had violated the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Forest Management Act, the Forest Service Organic Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act. The alleged violations included a failure to provide “quantitative or detailed information” to support the conclusion that the project and threats posed by nonnative white pine blister rust, native mountain pine beetle, climate change, and fire suppression would not have measurable cumulative effects on whitebark pine.