The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and vacated in part a district court's judgment upholding BLM's and the Interior Board of Land Appeals' decisions concerning recreation and travel management plans for motorized vehicle use in the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area in southe...
The D.C. Circuit dismissed an environmental group's petition to review FERC's order granting a certificate to a pipeline company to construct and operate compression facilities for one of its projects. The group argued that FERC was required under NEPA to include an evaluation of upstream and downst...
A district court denied an environmental group's motion for summary judgment in a challenge to NMFS' approval of a fishery management plan amendment that opened up a portion of the western Gulf of Maine to commercial and recreational fishing. The group argued that NMFS wrongly concluded that the ame...
The Ninth Circuit reversed a dismissal of a lawsuit brought by conservation groups to enjoin USDA from killing gray wolves in Idaho pending additional NEPA analysis. The groups argued before the district court that the agency violated NEPA by failing to prepare an EIS on its wolf management activiti...
A district court granted in part a challenge to DOI's decision to lift a 2016 moratorium on new coal leasing on public lands. States and environmental groups argued that DOI's decision to lift the moratorium constituted a major federal action subject to NEPA review, and requested that the court orde...
The Tenth Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that upheld the U.S. Forest Service's management plan to protect the San Isabel and White River National Forests from insects, disease, and fire, improve wildlife habitat, and maintain watershed conditions. A conservation group argued that the Fores...
A district court ordered BLM and environmental groups to agree on a remedy for BLM's failure to address impacts from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in its NEPA review for oil and gas development in Colorado. The groups argued that BLM failed to take a "hard look" at the severity and impacts of GHG p...
A district court dismissed for lack of standing an environmental group's challenge to an EPA directive that prohibited scientists in receipt of certain EPA grants from serving on the Agency's federal advisory committees. The group argued the directive was arbitrary and capricious because the Agency ...
A district court dismissed a nonprofit group's challenge to an EPA directive that prohibited scientists in receipt of certain EPA grants from serving on the Agency's federal advisory committees. The group argued that the directive violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) requirement that c...