A district court held that OSM violated NEPA when it approved the expansion of two Colorado mines. The court agreed with environmental groups that OSM violated NEPA by failing to seek public involvement during the review process and by failing to publish notice of the resulting EAs and FONSIs. OSM a...
A district court upheld a U.S. Forest Service decision allowing a uranium mine to renew operations near the Grand Canyon National Park. In January 2012, DOI withdrew approximately 633,547 acres of public lands and 360,002 acres of National Forest System lands for up to 20 years from location and ent...
A district court upheld the U.S. Forest Service's approval of the Big Thorne Project in the Tongass National Forest, thereby allowing the logging of approximately 6,186 acres of old growth forest and construction of 46.1 miles of new Forest Service roads to begin on April 1, 2015. Environmental grou...
A district court held that BLM violated NEPA and the APA when it authorized a logging project in an area of Douglas County, Oregon, that provides habitat for the northern spotted owl. In its EA for the project, which would effectively remove 160 acres of mature forest, BLM failed to consider a reaso...
A district court held that TVA did not violate NEPA when it decided to replace two coal-fired power generators with a natural gas-fueled power generating plant. TVA was replacing the generators to comply with mercury and air toxics standards. It issued an EA and FONSI for the project, and a coal ass...
The Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court decision denying environmental groups' request for attorneys fees after they successfully challenged OSM's grant of a coal mining permit revision. Below, the groups' lawsuit was consolidated with other actions challenging the permit revision, which was ultima...
The D.C. Circuit upheld the National Park Service's (NPS') deer management plan for Rock Creek National Park in Washington, DC. The plan involves the killing of white-tailed deer to reduce the herd to an ecologically sustainable level. An animal rights group argued that NPS failed to comply with the...
A district court held that environmental groups lack standing to challenge the U.S. Export-Import Bank's approval of a $90 million loan guarantee that supports a three-year, $100 million loan from a private bank to a coal exporter. The groups argued that the Bank's guarantee, which allows the coal c...
The Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court decision affirming the U.S. Forest Service's decision to implement the Little Slate Project, a 2,598-acre timber thinning sale within the Nez Perce National Forest. Environmental groups asserted that the Forest Service and FWS violated the National Forest Manag...
The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision granting summary judgment in favor of the federal government on claims that it violated ESA, NEPA, and National Forest Management Act in connection with its approval of a lumber thinning and fuel reduction project in northern California. An environme...