A district court granted summary judgment to DOT, the Federal Transit Administration, and the Connecticut Department of Transportation in a challenge to the agencies' EA regarding the replacement of a movable railroad bridge in Norwalk, Connecticut. A conservation group argued the EA was inadequate ...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a summary judgment for the U.S. Forest Service in a challenge to the Service's designation of at-risk forest lands and its approval of a project aimed to address spreading pine-beetle infestation in previously designated at-risk areas in Tahoe National Forest. Environmenta...

The U.S. Supreme Court vacated a dismissal of a landowner's challenge to a town ordinance on takings grounds. The landowner argued the ordinance, which requires cemeteries on public and private property to be kept open and accessible to the public during daylight hours, effected a taking of her prop...

A magistrate judge declined to preliminarily enjoin the U.S. Forest Service from constructing a recreational trail across private property located in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. The property owners argued the Service's decision to proceed via a categorical exclusion was in violation of NE...

The Federal Circuit affirmed a dismissal of landowners' lawsuit against the government for flooding that resulted when a federal land conservation program induced an adjacent landowner to build and maintain a levee. The landowners argued that the flooding, which rendered their land unfit for cultiva...

The D.C. Circuit denied a petition to review FERC's decision authorizing the construction and operation of a new natural gas compression facility in Tennessee. Landowners and business owners argued that FERC violated NEPA by failing to adequately evaluate alternatives to the facility. The court disa...

The D.C. Circuit granted in part the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' and a power company's request to reconsider a prior court order that vacated a permit for a 17-mile transmission line after finding the Corps failed to prepare an EIS for the line in violation of NEPA. The Corps and power company arg...

In an unpublished opinion, a state appellate court upheld the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' decision denying a request for the preparation of a supplemental EIS for a proposed copper-nickel-platinum group elements mine. Environmental groups challenged the Department's determination that...

A state high court affirmed a lower court denial of landowners' and an environmental group's petition to review a decision by the Iowa Utilities Board authorizing a company to use eminent domain to build a crude oil pipeline. The landowners and group argued the pipeline did not serve the "public con...

In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit affirmed a summary judgment for the U.S. Forest Service in a challenge to its proposed logging project in Flathead National Forest. Environmental groups argued that the Service violated the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) and NEPA by failing to ensu...