A district court granted the United States’ motion for summary judgment to find that certain timber harvesting provisions of a forest management plan did not violate the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) and the Tongass Timber Reform Act (TTRA). Plaintiffs—several Alaskan ...

A Colorado appellate court reversed a lower court decision to hold that the Colorado Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) prevented the state from increasing the coal removal tax rate without prior voter approval. The tax rate is determined by a statutory formula, whereby a base rate is periodically adju...

A Colorado appellate court reversed a lower court decision to hold that the Colorado Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) prevented the state from increasing the coal removal tax rate without prior voter approval. The tax rate is determined by a statutory formula, whereby a base rate is periodically adju...

In denying a petition for review, the Tenth Circuit held that the NRC did not violate the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) or NEPA when it issued a license to a company to conduct in situ leach mining for uranium on four sites in northwest New Mexico. In issuing the license, NRC interpreted its regulations t...

The West Virginia Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part a series of jury verdicts, orders and rulings in a class action where the owner of a zinc smelter facility was found liable to class members for approximately $382 million in damages related to off-site arsenic, cadmium, and lead ...

The California Supreme Court reversed a lower court decision to find that a citizen group’s suit challenging a city’s approval of a Wal-Mart was time barred under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The city filed a notice of exemption (NOE) announcing its determination that the app...

A California appellate court reversed a lower court decision that granted in part a citizen group’s petition for a writ of mandate under the California Environmental Quality Act challenging the certification of an environmental impact report (EIR) by a university board in regards to the developmen...

A California appellate court affirmed a lower court decision that denied in part petitions for writ of mandate of plaintiffs, public agencies and mutual water companies, challenging certain amendments made to a water quality control plan by a state water quality control board. Plaintiffs asserted th...

The U.S. Supreme Court held that a Native American tribe's reacquisition of historic reservation land does not prohibit the imposition of local property taxes. The tribe cannot unilaterally revive its ancient sovereignty over the parcels at issue. The tribe long ago relinquished governmental reins a...

A California appellate court, in an eminent domain action concerning the valuation of property to be used in a highway project, held that a trial court correctly precluded the city's valuation method of the taken property. The city argued that the taken property should be valued based on its "agricu...