The Fifth Circuit vacated the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC's) decision that two natural gas pipelines perform a "transportation" function rather than a "gathering" function, thereby subjecting them to FERC jurisdiction's under the Natural Gas Act. Natural gas flows from gathering pip...
The court affirmed the dismissal of a home builder association's claims that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in its promulgation of survey protocols to detect the endangered quino checkerspot butterfly in s...
The court holds that a lower court erred in preliminarily enjoining a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rule that permits the resumption of the importation of Canadian cattle to the United States. The importation of Canadian cattle had temporarily been barred due to fears of Bovine Spongiform En...
The court holds that National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration (NOAA) Fisheries erred when it denied a fishing vessel's application for an Aleutian Islands brown king crab endorsement under the license limitation program for the Bearing Sea and Aleutian Islands groundfish and crab fisheries. Th...
The court dismisses as moot an animal advocacy group's claims against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) for denying their petition to list the trumpeter swan in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming as endangered or threatened and for authorizing the limited take of the swans during the 2001 and 2002 h...
A court dismisses an environmental group's Endangered Species Act (ESA) and National Environmental Policy Act claims against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries concerning logging activity on private lands in Humboldt County, California, a...
The court dismisses in part and denies in part a petition for judicial review of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's decision to allow an owner and operator of a hydroelectric project on the Sebasticook River in Maine to surrender its license and breach a dam. Nearby landowners complained tha...
The court dismisses an environmental group's petition for review of seven Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) orders concerning a natural gas pipeline extension from Virginia to North Carolina. The group lacked standing to assert its claim that the natural gas company's route realignments we...
The court dismisses an environmental group's claims that the National Park Service (NPS) failed to comply with certain statutory mandates, deadlines, and management policies involving national park management, and denied the group's non-statutory claim that the NPS failed to develop wilderness manag...
The court holds that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) did not violate the Privacy Act by disclosing an individual's personal information on its public website. The Corps posted the information to defend itself from media inquiries stemming from a newspaper article that was critical of th...