Steller Sea Lion Protections Upheld: Large trawlers and endangered Steller sea lions have competed for fish in the Aleutian Islands for decades, with the fishing boats too often winning, to the detriment of the sea lions. The National Marine Fisheries Service recently issued regulations to protect sea lion populations by regulating fishing by the giant ships. The state of Alaska challenged the regulations in court, Earthjustice joined on the side of the government, representing Greenpeace and Oceana, and on Jan. 20 the court upheld the regulations. (Read more.)

Tahoe Ski Expansion Opposed: In the 1940s, Will Colby, a Sierra Club founder and confidant of John Muir, wrote of Yosemite’s “fatal beauty.” The term is just as apt for Lake Tahoe, where once-clear waters and stunning forests have attracted more people and development than the landscape can handle. Now, a developer has plans for a massive ski-resort expansion at the sleepy hamlet of Homewood on the California side of the lake, in violation of guidelines adopted by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. Earthjustice has sued to force compliance with the regulations. (Read more.)

Weak Pollution Standards Fall In Valley: In 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency finally got around to approving the 2004 cleanup plan prepared by the local air pollution control district to reduce emissions of smog-causing pollutants in California’s Central Valley. Fair enough, except that the data used in the 2004 plan were flawed and the EPA knew it. Responding to an Earthjustice lawsuit on behalf of Medical Advocates for Healthy Air, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on January 20 rejected the plan and told the agency to try again. (Read more.)

Florida Ruling Aids Everglades: In September, with the help of Earthjustice legal action, a federal judge ruled that water coming off state-operated stormwater treatment areas had repeatedly exceeded state water pollution limits for phosphorus between 2005 and 2009. Polluted water running into the refuge harms the delicate ecology and wildlife of the Everglades. The state must now set stronger limits and enforce them. (Read more.)

For more than 100 years, miners, rascals and even Mickey Mouse failed to tame one of America's wildest places. Nature defeated most of those misguided adventurers, but it took the partnership of some plucky lawyers to finally preserve the Sierra's majestic Mineral King. Their pioneering efforts laid the cornerstone of environmental law and gave birth to Earthjustice. ("How The Earth Got A Lawyer.")

• Q&A with Jim Moorman

Airplane Pollution Rules In Europe Applauded: Starting the first of this year, airlines that land planes in the European Union must limit the amount of carbon they emit or buy offsets via a complex formula. A controversial ruling by the European Court of Justice, supported by environmental groups including Earthjustice, cleared the way for this, a promising step toward climate rehabilitation. The U.S. is being pressured to join the effort. (Read more.)

Court Finds Army Wanting in Mākua: Residents of O`ahu, who eat fish, shellfish and sea cucumbers harvested near the Mākua Military Reservation, have long suspected that military training activities are poisoning their food supply with carcinogenic, inorganic arsenic. Under a January 2007 lawsuit settlement, the Army is required to test these food resources for contamination. The Army conducted a study—but tested only plants and animals that people don’t eat. Not good enough, said a federal judge in October, ordering the Army to redo the study. (Read more.)

EPA To Set Fracking Guidelines: In late October, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it will set guidelines to limit wastewater pollution from gas extraction, including the controversial process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking—an action that will protect rivers, streams and drinking water. The decision followed a request from Earthjustice, sent to the EPA on behalf of 63 groups across the country, asking further study of the impacts of coalbed methane extraction to include other oil and gas exploration and production processes. (Read.)

Gallatin Range Protected From More Dirt Bikes: Just north of Yellowstone National Park is a spectacular wilderness study area encompassing the Gallatin Mountain Range and outstanding habitat for grizzly bears, wolverines and lynx. Despite the area’s high wilderness and wildlife values, the Forest Service wrote a transportation management plan that would allow a big increase in the use of snowmobiles and motorized dirt bikes. In December, after Earthjustice challenged the plan, a federal appeals court deemed it illegal. (Read more.)

Coos Bay Dredging Challenged: Officials in Coos Bay, Oregon, have come up with a project that has so many things going against it that it might just set a record. It proposes to dredge Coos Bay harbor for the purpose of exporting coal and liquefied natural gas, mostly to China. The estuary is vital to salmon and oysters. Coal would arrive in open rail cars after contributing dust to lungs for hundreds of miles. Burning the coal and the LNG would worsen global warming. The gas would be transported in a 234-mile pipe, subject to leaks. Finally, the plan was adopted in secret. Earthjustice has appealed the permit on behalf of five organizations. (Read more.)

Lax Runoff Rules Overturned In Washington: Clark County covers the southwest corner of Washington state, across the Columbia River from Portland. Lately there has been a complicated bureaucratic tussle over rules aimed at limiting surface-water runoff into the river and the ocean. Such runoff is often laden with toxic metals, oil, grease, pesticides, herbicides, and bacteria, to the detriment of salmon and other species. Last fall a state board found the county’s rules lacking. The county refused to strengthen the rules, and the state ecology department went along. Earthjustice sued on behalf of Columbia River Keeper and a local group, and late last year a federal judge ruled that the county’s rule violates the federal Clean Water Act. (Read more.)

EPA Sets Air Toxics Rule: Capping a litigation campaign by Earthjustice that has spanned more than a decade, the Environmental Protection Agency in December last year, issued its first-ever regulations to control air toxics (mercury, arsenic, and other substances) from oil- and coal-fired power plants. The move is expected to save as many as 11,000 lives per year.(Read more.)

Flaming Gorge Pipeline Defeated: The Colorado River virtually disappears by the time it enters the Gulf of California. Yet a proposal was made to suck vast amounts of water from Flaming Gorge on the Green River in Wyoming, the Colorado’s biggest tributary. The water was to be piped to the Front Range of the Rockies to accommodate expected growth in Colorado. Along the way it would waste energy and devastate fisheries. A coalition of 10 groups calling itself the Colorado River Protection Coalition, represented by Earthjustice, moved to oppose the project, and in February the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected the proposal. (Read more.)

Saving Coral’s Clean-Up Crew: Parrotfish in the Caribbean, aside from being beautiful, serve as janitors for coral reefs, grazing on algae that would otherwise crowd out the growing corals. This vital function is threatened by overfishing of parrotfish, which was recently sanctioned by the National Marine Fisheries Service. An Earthjustice lawsuit on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity seeks to curb the overfishing. The reefs, which have declined by 90 percent in the past few decades, are vulnerable to global warming and acidification; loss of the fishy janitors could doom them. (Read more.)