The Ninth Circuit, in an unpublished opinion, reversed a lower court decision granting summary judgment in favor of the U.S. Forest Service in a case challenging its approval of four timber logging projects in the Tongass National Forest. The Forest Service failed to adequately explain it decisi...

A district court vacated two internal DOI guidance documents that address and limit the use of §390 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which establishes a "rebuttable presumption" that a categorical exclusion from review under NEPA would apply to certain oil and gas development activities on federal...

The Fourth Circuit denied a petition challenging a DOE rule setting forth energy conservation standards for small electric motors. The motors covered by the rule are electric induction motors ranging in power output from 0.25 to 3 horsepower. In promulgating the rule, the DOE invoked its authori...

A California appellate court reversed a lower court decision certifying residents' class action lawsuit against the state wildlife agency in connection with efforts to eradicate an invasive species of fish, the northern pike, from a lake and its tributaries. The residents argued that the agency's ef...

An Ohio appellate court held that a city is not immune from residents' negligence lawsuit against it concerning pollution allegedly caused by a city landfill. The city argued that it was immune from suit because the operation of the landfill was a governmental function rather than a proprietary ...

A district court held that environmental groups lacked standing to challenge contracts a Department of Defense agency entered into to purchase fuel derived from Canadian oil sands recovered crude oil (COSRC). The groups argued that the contracts violated the Energy Independence and Security Act ...

A district court held that EPA's approval of a sediments and total suspended solids (TSS) TMDL for the Anacostia River in Maryland and Washington, D.C., was arbitrary and capricious. When developing a TMDL for a particular pollutant, the CWA and its implementing regulations require the state—in de...

A district court held that NOAA Fisheries' 2008/2010 biological opinion (BiOp) for the Federal Columbia River Power System is arbitrary and capricious under the ESA. In the BiOp it issued to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, NOAA Fisheries concluded that the op...

A district court upheld the constitutionality of an appropriations rider that reinstated an FWS rule that removed ESA protections for the Northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf in all areas outside of Wyoming. The court previously held that the rule violated the ESA because it protected a listed species ...

The Tenth Circuit held that the U.S. Forest Service may charge visitors to Mt. Evans an "amenity fee" under the Recreation Enhancement Act (REA). Plaintiffs, outdoor enthusiasts, argued that the fee exceeds the Service's statutory authority under the REA. But to prevail in a facial challenge to an a...