The U.S. Supreme Court, 8-0, held that the D.C. Circuit failed to afford the Surface Transportation Board the substantial deference NEPA requires in a challenge to the Board's authorization of a new 88-mile rail line in the Uinta Basin, and that the court incorrectly interpreted NEPA to require the Board to consider environmental effects of upstream and downstream projects that were separate in time and place from the rail line.

The Ninth Circuit reversed a district court's dismissal of a challenge to BLM's authorization of construction on a transmission line through the San Pedro Valley. 

ELR's May-June issue examines state climate superfund legislation, Chinese environmental law developments from 2024, future Global Plastics Treaty negotiations, and the future of recreation on state trust lands. Other pieces in this issue argue that climate action should be defensible under current antitrust doctrine, explain why the "presumption of service connection" should be granted for PFAS exposure in veterans, and propose using tribal fishing rights to challenge timber sales.

State trust lands, historically managed for extractive uses such as grazing, timber harvesting, and mineral development, generate revenue for public schools and other designated beneficiaries. How  might recreation—ranging from hiking and hunting to wildlife viewing and camping—fits within this fiduciary framework?