A district court held that the Farm Service Agency and the Small Business Administration violated NEPA and the ESA when they guaranteed loans to a hog farm without adequately assessing the farm's environmental impact. The farm, which houses 6,500 swine, is located near a tributary of the Buffalo Nat...
A district court granted summary judgment in favor of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on all but one claim in a lawsuit filed against the agency challenging its decision in 2013 to make certain "flow augmentation releases" (FARs) of water from a dam located in the Trinity River Division of the Centra...
The D.C. Circuit denied residents' petitions for review challenging FERC's approval of a new natural gas compressor station in their town. Although the project is now finished and functional, the petitions are not moot because the residents assert that the compressor's operation continues to harm th...
The Sixth Circuit, in an unpublished opinion, upheld the dismissal of claims that FHwA violated NEPA when it approved a $2.6 billion construction and transportation management project designed to improve mobility across the Ohio River in Louisville, Kentucky. Despite a nonprofit group's arguments to...
The Ninth Circuit held that it lacked jurisdiction to review a U.S. Coast Guard letter to FERC concerning the suitability of the Columbia River for vessel traffic associated with a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility and pipeline. The letter of recommendation stated that although the river...
The Fourth Circuit affirmed a lower court's decision that FHwA and North Carolina complied with NEPA in their approval of a bridge and highway improvement project between the mainland and the Outer Banks barrier islands, but reversed that court's determination that the defendants were exempt from co...
A district court held that BLM complied with NEPA when it issued a programmatic EIS for utility-scale solar energy projects in six southwestern states. Environmental groups filed suit under NEPA, claiming that BLM failed to consider reasonable alternatives to utility-scale solar energy development o...
A district court vacated the government's approval of on-the-ground mining exploration activities in a part of western Colorado's North Fork Valley and enjoined the intervening mining companies from proceeding with the project until the agencies comply with NEPA. Although the federal agencies provid...
A district court upheld National Park Service (NPS) regulations restricting off-road vehicle (ORV) use in North Carolina's Cape Hatteras National Seashore at certain times of the year. Petitioners argued the rule was arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, and otherwise not in accordance w...
The D.C. Circuit held that FERC violated NEPA when it approved the expansion of a natural gas pipeline in the Northeast. The project will upgrade a portion of a much longer natural gas pipeline known as the 300 Line. An environmental group challenged the approval, arguing that FERC violated NEPA whe...