Alt v. United States Environmental Protection Agency
A district court held that litter and manure washed from a farmyard into navigable waters due to a precipitation event is an agricultural stormwater discharge and not a point source discharge, rendering it exempt from the CWA's NPDES permit requirement. The case involves a poultry farmer who operate...
Nez Perce Tribe v. United States Forest Service
A district court issued an injunction ordering the U.S. Forest Service to prohibit industrial equipment—known as "mega-loads"—headed for the Alberta Sands from being transported along a highway that runs through the Nez Perce Reservation and the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest until certain...
Defenders of Wildlife v. United States Department of the Navy
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed a lower court decision dismissing environmental groups' claim that the U.S. Navy and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) violated NEPA, the ESA, and the APA in deciding to install and operate an undersea warfare training range in waters adjacent to the only kno...
Minard Run Oil Co. v. United States Forest Service
The Third Circuit affirmed a lower court decision vacating a 2009 settlement agreement between the U.S. Forest Service and environmental groups that banned oil and gas drilling in the Allegheny National Forest pending the completion of a multi-year, forestwide EIS under NEPA. The lower court had pre...
Biodiversity Conservation Alliance v. Bureau of Land Management
A district court held that BLM complied with NEPA and FLPMA when it authorized a uranium mining project in south central Wyoming. BLM, in conjunction with other state and federal agencies, undertook extensive and exhaustive reviews of the potential environmental impacts of the project, and the agenc...
Rockies Express Pipeline LLC v. Salazar
The Federal Circuit held that the Minerals Management Service (MMS) breached its contract with a natural gas pipeline construction company involving the construction of two segments of a pipeline that extends from Wyoming to Ohio. Under a "precedent agreement," MMS would pay the company roughly $1.2...