DRN is co-plaintiff in a legal action seeking to resurrect regulations in the State of Delaware that provided for a moratorium on the bait harvest of horseshoe crabs in an effort to ensure enough eggs for a migrating shorebird, the Red Knot rufa.  DRN is also co-plaintiff in a suit seeking to force US Fish and Wildlife Service to list the red knot, a small shorebird, as endangered.  The red knot is projected to go extinct by 2010 due to the diminishment of its primary food source horseshoe crab eggs.

Highways are among the most significant sources of water quality degradation, especially due to their secondary, sprawl inducing effects.  The Clinic is addressing the negative impacts of roads and other infrastructure in the watershed.  Most recently on this front DRN joined Buckingham Township in suing the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for a proposal for an oversized and environmentally damaging highway, resulting in a substantial scaling back of the project and other improvements.  DRN submitted an amicus brief supporting an appeal by Buckingham Township seeking attorneys fees, which resulted in a landmark decision by the PA Supreme Court confirming that Pennsylvania law strongly favors the awards of attorneys fees to plaintiffs in such cases and rejecting the U.S. Supreme Court's restrictive federal law precedent in Buckhannon.  DRN sought leave to participate in the remand proceedings before the PA DEP Environmental Hearing Board and filed documents to secure attorneys fees.  Our attorney fees request was ultimately denied. 

                      Poszgai Contempt Motion - The Clinic has supported the U.S. in the landmark Clean Water Act enforcement case against John Poszgai, who flagrantly and repeatedly filled wetlands in knowing violation of the CWA.  DRN intervened in the case and in September 2006 filed a brief supporting the government's position that the recent Supreme Court decision in the Rapanos case did not obviate Poszgai's obligation to comply with the district court's order to restore the wetlands.