E&B Natural Resources Management Corp. v. Alameda, County of
A district court denied partial summary judgment in a challenge to a county board's decision not to renew two conditional use permits (CUPs) for continued operation of an oil extraction and production facility in Livermore, California. The facility operator argued it had a fundamental vested right i...
Citizens for Clean Energy v. U.S. Department of the Interior
A district court denied a request to vacate the Trump Administration's decision to lift the Obama Administration's moratorium on new coal leasing on public lands. Environmental groups, tribes, and states argued that BLM's issuance of a final EA and FONSI were insufficient to meet the court's previou...
St. Johns Riverkeeper, Inc. v. United States Army Corps of Engineers
A district court granted summary judgment for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in a challenge to its proposal to dredge a portion of a harbor located in the Lower St. Johns River. An environmental group argued that the Corps violated NEPA by failing to analyze the present effects of past dredging ac...
Mountain Communities for Fire Safety v. Elliott
A district court granted summary judgment for the U.S. Forest Service in a challenge to its approval of a tree-thinning and fire mitigation project in the Los Padres National Forest. Conservation groups and nearby residents argued the Service's decision to authorize the project with a categorical ex...
Grand Canyon Trust v. Provencio
A district court granted summary judgment for the Forest Service in a challenge against its determination that a mining company had "valid existing rights" (VER) at a uranium mine in the Kaibab National Forest when DOI withdrew public lands around the Grand Canyon from new mining claims. A Native Am...
Stand Up for California! v. U.S. Department of the Interior
The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and vacated in part summary judgment for DOI in a challenge to its issuance of secretarial procedures authorizing a Native American tribe to operate a hotel and casino in Madera, California. Nonprofit groups argued that issuance of the procedures violated NEPA and ...