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...
In his recent statements and testimony before the U.S. Congress, Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt has expressed doubt he has the legal authority to limit his unrelenting campaign to lease fossil fuels on America’s public lands. He has supplemented this by offering a rather bizarre argument that he has no such obligation because carbon emissions are being curbed more in the United States than in many other countries. The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) reported not long ago that these emissions account for about one-quarter of total U.S. carbon emissions.
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 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...