The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court's grant of summary judgment in favor of DOI in water districts' lawsuit challenging the agency's management of California's Central Valley Project. The water districts argued that DOI should be ordered to provide the necessary drainage or, alternatively, to p...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of an environmental group's citizen suit against two electric companies alleging that their utility poles discharged wood preservative into the environment in violation of the CWA and RCRA. The group failed to state a claim under the CWA because discharges of...

A district court held that BLM violated NEPA when it sold four oil and gas leases on approximately 2,700 acres of federal land in Monterey and Fresno counties without considering impacts from hydraulic fracturing. The leases are located in California's Monterey Shale Formation, which is estimated to...

The Ninth Circuit reversed in part and affirmed in part lower court orders in cases arising out of the energy crisis of 2000-2002 that were consolidated into a multidistrict litigation proceeding. Plaintiffs—retail buyers of natural gas—alleged that defendants—natural gas traders—manipulated...