The court denies a California public utility's petition for a writ of mandamus staying various aspects of a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) order addressing the crisis surrounding California's restructuring of its electricity market, and denies a city's petition for mandamus ordering FER...

The court holds that the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA's) and Air National Guard's (ANG's) orders approving the Colorado Airspace Initiative (Initiative) and its underlying environmental impact analysis did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Federal Aviation Act, ...

A district court ordered the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to install and continuously operate scrubbers at four power plants in Tennessee and Alabama. North Carolina filed a public nuisance claim against TVA, citing urgent environmental concerns due to air pollution emitted by TVA's coal-fired p...

The Fourth Circuit reversed a lower court decision rejecting the U.S. Coast Guard's interpretation of its own regulations concerning the installation of double hulls on oil tankers overseas. Under U.S. law, a vessel becomes ineligible to participate in the coastwise trade if significant work is perf...

A district court dismissed two local water agencies' NEPA action against various federal and state regulatory agencies, water districts, and other interested parties involved in the development and environmental review of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, a yet-to-be consummated collaborative approac...

The court denies a railway company's petition for review of a Surface Transportation Board order rejecting as unreasonable certain rates the railroad charged to a company to ship coal. The board issued its ruling three-and-one-half years after a complaint was filed. Because 49 U.S.C. §11701(c) prov...

The court held that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation did not breach its repayment contract with a municipal water district concerning a water reclamation project on the Ventura River in California when it required the district to build a $9.1 million fish passage facility and to relinquish a portion o...

The court held that the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) arbitrarily and capriciously transferred the functions performed by the Fish Passage Center—providing technical assistance and information to fish and wildlife agencies, Indian tribes, and the general public on matters related to salmon...

The court upheld a U.S. Department of Labor administrative review board decision dismissing a civilian chemist's complaint that his former employer—the U.S. Army—violated the employee protection provisions of several environmental statutes and retaliated against him by creating a hostile work en...

A district court held that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) failed to take a hard look at its decision to deregulate alfalfa genetically engineered to resist the herbicide glyphosate—the active ingredient in "RoundUp." Substantial questions exist as to whether the deregulatio...