People for the Ethical Treatment of Property Owners v. United States Fish & Wildlife Service
A district court held that the federal government may not regulate the take of the Utah prairie dog, a threatened species, on nonfederal lands under the ESA. In 2012, FWS issued a rule authorizing the take of the Utah prairie dog, via permit, on "agricultural lands, [private property] within [.5 mil...
Shell Gulf of Mexico, Inc. v. Center for Biological Diversity
The Ninth Circuit dismissed an oil company's Declaratory Judgment Act lawsuit against several environmental groups, seeking a declaration that the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement’s approval of two oil spill response plans under OPA for Alaska’s Beaufort and Chukchi Seas did not vi...
Shieldalloy Metallurgical Corp. v. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The D.C. Circuit upheld an NRC order transferring regulatory authority over decommissioning activities at a former aluminum production plant to the state of New Jersey under the Atomic Energy Act. New Jersey’s regulatory regime is adequate and compatible with the NRC’s regulatory program. And de...
San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority v. Jewell
A district court granted summary judgment in favor of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on all but one claim in a lawsuit filed against the agency challenging its decision in 2013 to make certain "flow augmentation releases" (FARs) of water from a dam located in the Trinity River Division of the Centra...