The Second Circuit affirmed dismissal of a lawsuit seeking damages from oil companies for harms caused by climate change. New York City sued the companies under state tort law to recover damages caused by the companies' legal commercial conduct in producing and selling fossil fuels. The companies mo...

The D.C. Circuit granted in part, denied in part, and dismissed in part a petition to review FERC's approval of changes to dam operations in northwest Indiana after determining that the hydroelectric dam partially caused mussel deaths, as well as FWS' biological opinion (BiOp) upon which the Commiss...

The D.C. Circuit affirmed dismissal of a lawsuit concerning reserved water rights in the Klamath River Basin. Ranchers sued to prevent Native American tribes from exercising reserved water rights in the basin that interfered with the ranchers' ability to irrigate their land. The district court dismi...

The U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in a lawsuit concerning President Barack Obama's 2016 proclamation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Marine Monument off the New England coast. Commercial fishing groups had petitioned the Court to overturn the D.C. Circuit's 2019 decision uphol...

The U.S. Supreme Court, in an ongoing dispute between Florida and Georgia over the apportionment of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin's waters, agreed unanimously with a special master's latest recommendation on remand that Florida's request for a cap on Georgia's consumption of water...

A state court reversed the Maryland Department of the Environment's (MDE's) decision to reissue an NPDES general permit for animal feeding operations without limitations on the discharge of gaseous ammonia. An environmental group argued the permit was deficient under both the CWA and state law becau...

A district court remanded without vacatur BLM's and the Forest Service's authorization of hydraulic fracturing in Wayne National Forest, after previously ruling the agencies violated NEPA when they authorized the activity. The court found that equitable considerations warranted remand without vacatu...

A district court denied motions for summary judgment in a lawsuit seeking FOIA disclosure of records regarding an order issued by the Secretary of the Interior concerning the federal coal program. An environmental group argued that DOI failed to conduct an adequate search for responsive records, fai...

The Ninth Circuit denied oil companies' motions to stay a district court order remanding to state court two lawsuits alleging the companies concealed the dangers of fossil fuels to the climate. The companies argued that if the suits were remanded, they would be required to litigate the merits of Hon...

The Fifth Circuit denied a petition to review FWS' issuance of a biological opinion (BiOp) and incidental take statement (ITS) authorizing the harm or harassment of endangered ocelot or jaguarundi in connection with construction and operation of a liquefied natural gas pipeline in South Texas. Envir...