A district court largely upheld BLM's approval of a proposed dolomite mining project near the Florida Mountains in New Mexico. Environmental groups challenged the approval, arguing BLM violated NEPA by failing to adequately consider adverse effects on water, air, wildlife, a wilderness study area, a...
A district court granted an Indian tribe's motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) in a challenge to BLM's approval of a lithium mine exploration project in Arizona. The tribe argued BLM violated the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) when it found that no historical properties were af...
Among the many detrimental impacts from climate change, sea-level rise is one of the most damaging, costly, and devastating. Sea-level change poses particular challenges for coastal communities, and is becoming more prevalent in environmental law. Existing scientific literature about how sea-level change works can often be inaccessible to the people that need it. In addition, each coastal community experiences a unique combination of global, regional, and local factors that define sea-level change.
Sea-level rise is a common denominator that prompts two related but distinct types of coastal migration: (1) wealthy coastal communities that retreat inland to ensure their physical and economic security while encroaching on the neighborhoods of existing vulnerable communities; and (2) vulnerable Native Alaskan communities that relocate inland to ensure their survival while striving to retain their cultural identity.
As the United States and the global community figure out how to address climate migration, local governments can and have already been preparing for it. Planning for climate migrants is a part of climate resilience. This Comment calls on local governments, community groups, and individuals to make a stand for how their communities will address climate change, focusing on climate migration. Local governments have tremendous power when it comes to future development.
A district court granted summary judgment for conservation groups in a challenge to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's (APHIS') recent update to a program concerning the use of pesticides to suppress grasshopper and cricket outbreaks. The groups argued APHIS' 2019 EIS and five state-le...
The D.C. Circuit granted in part and denied in part challenges to FERC orders reauthorizing two liquefied natural gas export terminals in Texas and a pipeline that would carry natural gas to one of them. The city of Port Isabel and an environmental group argued FERC failed to comply with NEPA and Na...
A district court enjoined BLM from approving new applications for a permit to drill or authorizing new surface disturbance on lease parcels in conservation groups' challenge to the Bureau's decision to auction roughly 120,000 acres of public land in Wyoming for oil and gas development. The court pre...
The D.C. Circuit vacated FERC's approval of an expansion project for a natural gas pipeline that runs through New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Environmental groups petitioned to review the approval, arguing FERC arbitrarily overlooked significant environmental consequences...