A district court granted summary judgment to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in a challenge to the agency's decision to hold oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico. Environmental groups argued that BOEM failed to evaluate a "true" no-action alternative in its EIS by assuming that...
Heralded in 1970 as the nation’s environmental Magna Carta, the National Environmental Policy Act’s (NEPA’s) luster seems faded and its future uncertain. While Trump Administration initiatives threaten to diminish further and perhaps even dismantle aspects of NEPA, this Article chronicles how the current assault merely continues NEPA’s unfortunate trajectory, examining how the courts, the U.S. Congress, and the executive branch each have whittled away at the Act. NEPA consequently sits at a critical juncture: it could soon fade away or it could hew back toward its original promise.
The D.C. Circuit vacated FERC's refusal to allow a natural gas pipeline company to impose incremental-plus rates to cover the costs of an expansion project. The company argued that FERC should have approved the incremental-plus rates and that its failure to do so was arbitrary and capricious. The co...
In an unpublished opinion, a California appellate court affirmed dismissal of a challenge to the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources' issuance of 213 permits to drill new oil wells in a California oil field. Environmental groups argued the Division failed to comply with the California Env...
A California appellate court affirmed dismissal of a challenge to the South Coast Air Quality Management District's determination that an oil refinery project would reduce air pollution. An environmental group first argued the environmental impact report (EIR) was inadequate under the California Env...
In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit held that the U.S. Forest Service's decision not to prepare an EIS for a tree-thinning project in Mount Hood National Forest was arbitrary and capricious. A district court concluded that the Service's decision was lawful and thus granted summary judgment ...