The Fifth Circuit reversed a district court's dismissal of a discrimination challenge brought against St. James Parish in Louisiana. Two faith- and community-based groups argued the Parish had discriminated against them by directing hazardous industrial facility development toward majority-Black dis...
A district court granted in part and denied in part summary judgment for an environmental group in a challenge to a BLM tree thinning and harvesting project in Oregon. The group argued BLM should have prepared an EIS and failed to take a "hard look" at effects on recovery and survival of the no...
A district court granted in part and denied in part summary judgment for environmental groups in a challenge to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM's) approval of a 2023 offshore oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico. The groups argued BOEM's assessment of greenhouse gas emissions, ...
A district court vacated DOI's termination of seven lease agreements with the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) for development of oil and gas resources in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. AIDEA argued DOI deprived it of due process under the Fifth Amendment by canceling...
The Fifth Circuit affirmed denial of summary judgment for two Native American tribes and an environmental group in a challenge to a CWA §404 permit issued by the Army Corps of Engineers to expand operations at an oil export terminal on Texas' Gulf Coast. The tribes and group sought to invalidate th...
The D.C. Circuit denied environmental groups' challenge to FERC's authorization of a project to build two new natural gas pipelines in southwestern Louisiana. The groups argued FERC violated NEPA by failing to consider the project's effects on upstream greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, failing to dete...
Tribal groups argued NMFS violated NEPA in adopting the harvest specifications because they relied on outdated EISs despite dramatic changes to the ecosystem that necessitated an updated environmental analysis. The court found the specifications were not arbitrary and capricious because NMFS conclud...
In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a district court ruling in a lawsuit over a logging project in Kootenai National Forest. Conservation groups sued the Forest Service and FWS, arguing the project's approval violated the ESA, NEPA, and the National For...
A district court granted the Army Corps of Engineers' motion to dismiss a developer's challenge to the Corps' 2012 jurisdictional determination over certain wetlands in Virginia. The developer challenged the Corps' significant nexus finding between the wetlands and the Northwest River, arguing the s...
A district court denied environmental groups' motion to preliminarily enjoin a tornado recovery operations project in Hoosier National Forest. The groups argued the Forest Service improperly excluded the project from NEPA's research and reporting requirements and began implementing the project befor...