The First Circuit upheld a FERC order requiring a precision tool and instrument manufacturer to seek licensing under §23(b) of the Federal Power Act before it can proceed with certain changes to a hydroelectric generating facility project on its property. Under §23(b), the company must seek l...
The Third Circuit denied environmental groups' petition for review of an NRC decision granting a license renewal for the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station. The groups, who intervened in the license renewal proceedings, offered several contentions challenging the licensee's plans to detect...
A district court granted in part and denied in part the government's motion to dismiss an environmental group's claims that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE) failed to modify its policies and practices concerning offshore oil and gas leasing operations in th...
The Eleventh Circuit granted EPA's petition for a writ of mandamus to substitute the appearance of the EPA Assistant Administrator for Water for the appearance of the EPA Administrator at a hearing about compliance by the Agency with orders entered by the district court that concerned pollut...
The D.C. Circuit upheld an Interior Board of Land Appeals decision refusing to reinstate four oil and gas leases off the California coast that were expired due to political considerations. In 1999, the Pacific Regional Director of the Minerals Management Service caused the leases, for which an energ...
A district court dismissed a mining industry association's action challenging DOI Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) regulations allocating the burden of proof in five types of administrative proceedings under SMCRA. The association argued that the regulations impermissibly shift the ultimate...
A district court held unconstitutional California legislation (SB 990) that prescribes cleanup rules that apply only to a former federal nuclear research and rocket testing facility and criminalizes any sale or disposition of the property until it is cleaned up in accordance with the standards ...
A district court vacated new safety requirements the DOI issued for oil and gas operators in the outer continental shelf. The requirements, issued in a notice to lessees, range from submitting certifications to performing additional safety procedures. The requirements were set aside because the gove...
The D.C. Circuit vacated an NRC decision in which it refused to consider the value of a company's "goodwill" in determining whether the company was exempt from certain financial requirements necessary for the decommissioning of a uranium processing plant. In 2007 and 2008, the NRC granted th...
The D.C. Circuit denied a Native American tribe's petition challenging FERC's decision declining to impose conditions on a utility's annual licenses for a hydroelectric plant in order to preserve the Klamath River's trout fishery. Contrary to the tribe’s argument, FERC quite plainly articulated an...