A district court upheld DOI's renewal of two mineral leases that had previously been rejected for a copper-nickel mine in Superior National Forest. Businesses and environmental groups argued that DOI's authority to reconsider its decision to renew was limited to ministerial or inadvertent errors, an...

A district court dismissed constitutional challenges to Colorado's forced pooling statute, under which property owners were required to allow oil and gas companies to extract their minerals. A group of property owners argued the statute violated the First Amendment by requiring non-consenting owners...

A district court granted a pipeline company's motion for partial summary judgment in a lawsuit concerning a Virginia county board's denial of the company's request to traverse floodplains to construct an interstate natural gas pipeline. The company argued that it was not obligated to comply with the...

A district court dismissed a lawsuit concerning BLM's March and December 2018 oil and gas lease sales in southeastern Utah. Environmental groups argued the sales were arbitrary and capricious because BLM failed to conduct proper environmental and historical analyses and failed to provide appropriate...

A district court vacated an EA prepared by OSM for a coal mine expansion in south-central Montana. Environmental groups argued that OSM violated NEPA by failing to adequately consider the risk of train derailments from the increased rail traffic that would result. The court found that OSM should hav...

A district court held that the Forest Service violated NEPA, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), and the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) when it authorized timber harvesting in the Tongass National Forest. Environmental groups argued the EIS, which included a conditio...

The Tenth Circuit held that the Forest Service's decision to eliminate an alternative from its study of an exception to the Colorado Roadless Rule that allowed coal mining on previously protected national forest land near the North Fork of the Gunnison River was arbitrary and capricious. Environment...

In a partially published opinion, a state appellate court set aside Kern County's approval of an ordinance amendment proposed by oil and gas industry groups to streamline the permitting process for new oil and gas wells. Environmental groups, community groups, and a local farm argued that the enviro...

A district court granted in part and denied in part motions to compel discovery in a challenge to the Federal Highway Administration's (FHwA's), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers', and EPA's approval of permits for construction of a new interstate highway from North Carolina to Myrtle Beach. An environme...

A district court set aside BLM's 2018 instruction memorandum that supplied changed instructions to the agency's offices about how to handle oil and gas lease sales on federal lands within greater sage-grouse management area boundaries. Environmental groups argued the memorandum revised previously ex...