A district court found that the National Park Service (NPS) took a “hard look” at environmental impacts when it approved an oil and gas company's seismic survey in a Florida nature preserve. The oil and gas company requested that NPS allow it to conduct seismic tests in the Big Cypress National ...
The D.C. Circuit ruled that a trade association composed of lumber companies had standing to challenge an FWS designation of critical habitat for the northern spotted owl on federal land in California, Oregon, and Washington. In 2012, FWS issued a final rule designating 9.5 million acres of federal ...
A district court denied native tribes' request for injunctive relief to stop the Dakota Access oil pipeline planned to run under Lake Oahe, due to laches and their unlikelihood of success on the merits. The federal government granted easements to an oil company to build a pipeline through the native...
The Eleventh Circuit held that the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA's) approval of a new bridge in Port St. Lucie, Florida, was not arbitrary or capricious despite claims by environmental groups. The groups claimed that FHWA abused its discretion in not selecting their proffered alternative pa...
The Fourth Circuit vacated for mootness a district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of conservation groups challenging the construction of a 22-mile toll road in Gaston County, North Carolina. The conservationists challenged the environmental analysis conducted by the state transportation ...
The Second Circuit upheld the federal government's 2008 decision to take approximately 13,000 acres of land in central New York into trust on behalf of the Oneida Indian Nation of New York. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 authorizes the federal government to take land into trust on behalf of I...
The Federal Circuit affirmed in part and remanded in part a lower court decision dismissing a helium extraction company's breach of contract claims against the United States. In 1994, the parties entered a contract under which BLM gave the company the right to extract helium gas from roughly 21,000 ...
The Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of environmental groups' lawsuit challenging the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency's EIS for its updated land use plan. Applying a standard similar to the standard for evaluating an EIS under NEPA, the court held that the EIS and update adequately addressed the lo...
A district court dismissed environmental and animal rights groups' lawsuit against EPA for failing to respond to a 2009 petition for rulemaking that asked the Agency to regulate concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) as a source of air pollution under the CAA. The groups argued EPA violated ...
The Eleventh Circuit upheld the National Park Service's (NPS') wilderness assessment and management plan for the addition of approximately 112,400 acres of land to the Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida, including its decision to allow off-road vehicle (ORV) use on the added land. Environmenta...