Weekly Cases Update Volume 46, Issue 4

A district court denied mining companies' motion for summary judgment seeking to dismiss property owners' lawsuit against them for alleged subsidence damage. The coal companies, who lease the coal interests under the owners' property, engage in a mining technique known as "longwall mining," a...

The Ninth Circuit upheld a proposed management plan for the Presidio, a former military base in San Franciso that is now a National Park and a National Historic Landmark, that provides for the construction of a 70,000 square foot lodge. The Presidio is managed by the Presidio Trust, a wholly...

The Eleventh Circuit denied the coal mining industry's petitions for review of a Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) regulation aimed at reducing black lung disease and other respiratory illnesses in miners. The petitioners challenged MSHA's authority to issue the rule under the Federal...

A district court held that OSM violated NEPA when it approved a mining plan amendment that would expand a coal mine in Montana, and ordered the agency to prepare an updated EA within 240 days. Specifically, the court held that OSM violated NEPA's public participation and notice provisions when...