The court affirms the dismissal of a land trust's action alleging that a coal company that owned the mineral rights to a tract of the trust's land violated the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) and other federal and state laws. The trust alleged that the company's failure to comply ...

The court upholds some provisions and strikes down other provisions of an Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) interim final rule that required a surface mining permit applicant to disclose all environmental violations it incurred at its mining operations. The court first holds...

The court holds that the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT's) approval of a 12-lane bridge to replace an existing 6-lane bridge in Alexandria, Virginia, violated the Clean Air Act (CAA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), and the Depar...

The court holds that the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement's (OSM's) denial of a surface mining permit to a company was not a taking. The company's mining plan would invade the rock strata overlying an aquifer that supplies a local community with drinking water. The court first ho...

The court holds that the U.S. Forest Service complied with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when it issued a special use permit to a helicopter-guided skiing company in Chugach National Forest in Alaska without conducting an environmental assessment (EA) or an environmental impact statem...

The court holds that the U.S. Forest Service did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or the National Forest Management Act in its adoption of a grazing plan for the Fort Pierre National Grasslands in Nebraska. A grazing district challenged the Forest Service's plan, claiming tha...

The Sixth Circuit affirms a district court judgment upholding the Interior Board of Land Appeals' (IBLA's) decision that a mining company violated federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) regulations requiring the elimination of cliff-like rock walls known as "highwalls" at its sur...

The court affirms a district court decision denying residents' request to preliminarily enjoin a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' (the Corps') permit allowing the use of federal waters and wetlands for construction of an electric-generating plant in Athens, New York, near the banks of the Hudson River....

The court holds that the citizen suit provision of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), §520(f), provides a federal cause of action for the recovery of damages resulting from violation of state regulations that are a part of the state's surface coal mining and reclamation regulat...

The court holds that the U.S. Forest Service implementation of interim resource conservation policies in nine national forests was not arbitrary or capricious and did not violate the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) or the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The Forest Service developed i...