The Sixth Circuit held that DOE's environmental review of a proposed plant that would convert lumber into ethanol complied with NEPA. The company that plans to build the plant sought financial assistance from DOE, which is directed to fund alternative energy projects under the Energy Policy Act of 2...
The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court decision denying environmental groups’ motion to preliminarily enjoin a logging project in the Whitman-Wallowa National Forest in northeast Oregon. The lower court held that the groups were not likely to succeed on any of their ...
A district court dismissed environmental groups' claims that BLM violated NEPA when it approved a plan for developing a coal bed natural gas lease in an area of Wyoming's Powder River Basin as well as amendments to the applicable resource management plan for the area. The groups claimed that BLM aba...
A district court held that environmental groups' NEPA and FLPMA claims against BLM in connection with its decision to lease two coal tracts in Wyoming's Powder River Basin lack merit. The groups alleged that BLM violated the statutes because the agency failed to adequately consider the impacts on lo...
A district court, in a memorandum opinion, dismissed environmental groups' lawsuit against the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for APA, NEPA, and ESA violations in connection with two lease sales in the area where the Deepwater Horizon spill ...
The Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of activists' lawsuit challenging the construction of a 20-mile, high-speed rail project in Honolulu, Hawaii. The activists claimed that DOT, the Federal Transit Administration, and the city violated NEPA and §4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act (DOT ...
A district court held that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) violated NEPA and the ESA in approving certain operations at a fish hatchery on Oregon's Sandy River. NMFS regulations provide an exemption for the otherwise unlawful take of anadromous fish caused by a hatchery's artificial pro...
The Ninth Circuit held that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM's) EIS analyzing the environmental effects of proposed oil and gas development leases in the Chukchi Sea of the northwest coast of Alaska violated NEPA. Although the EIS properly took account of incomplete or unavailable infor...
The Ninth Circuit held that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not violate the CWA or NEPA when it issued a dredge and fill permit necessary for a mineral sands mining project near Coos Bay, Oregon. An environmental group argued that the Corps should have prepared an EIS, rather than an EA and FON...
The D.C. Circuit affirmed the dismissal of environmental groups' lawsuit challenging BLM's decision to lease two tracts of land in the Wyoming Powder River Basin for coal mining. The groups argued that BLM failed to adequately consider several environmental concerns, including the increase in local ...