A district court denied environmental groups' motions to enjoin an oil company from undertaking construction this winter on an oil and gas project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. One group argued BLM violated the ESA by inappropriately relying on uncertain Marine Mammal Protection Act miti...
A district court denied a motion for preliminary injunction in a challenge to DOI's approval of a mine expansion in Montana. Conservation groups argued the Department's EIS failed to sufficiently consider the cumulative impacts of mining on local water resources, failed to consider a reasonable rang...
The D.C. Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court order vacating a Mineral Leasing Act easement issued by the Army Corps of Engineers for the Dakota Access Pipeline and directing the pipeline to be shut down. Native American tribes argued the Corps' issuance of the easement withou...
A district court denied an animal rights group's motion for summary judgment in a challenge to permits and safe harbor agreements (SHAs) issued by FWS for an experiment on nonfederal land to gain data on the relationship between barred owl removal and northern spotted owl recovery. The group argued ...
A district court denied a motion to preliminarily enjoin BLM from authorizing construction of a helium drilling project on public lands near the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness in southeastern Utah. Environmental groups argued BLM violated NEPA by failing to analyze the cumulative impacts of water use r...
A district court denied a motion to preliminarily enjoin construction of a power transmission line through the Western Maine Mountains. Environmental groups challenged the Army Corps of Engineers' decision to issue a CWA/Rivers and Harbors Act permit for the line without preparing an EIS, arguing th...
A district court denied motions to preliminarily enjoin BLM from issuing oil and gas leases and authorizing seismic activity in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Indigenous and environmental groups argued that BLM violated, among other statutes, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act...
The Montana Supreme Court affirmed in part a ruling that granted summary judgment for environmental groups in a challenge to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality's (MDEQ's) approval of an exploration license for mining on private land north of Yellowstone National Park. The groups argued ...
A district court remanded BLM's authorization and issuance of 59 leases of public land in the Uinta Basin for oil and gas exploration. Conservation groups challenged BLM's decision on several NEPA grounds and sought to have it vacated. The court found that the agency took an appropriately hard look ...
The Ninth Circuit vacated the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM’s) approval of an offshore drilling and production facility in the Beaufort Sea. Environmental groups argued that BOEM violated NEPA by arbitrarily and capriciously estimating the environmental consequences of the alternativ...