The court vacates a Black Lung Benefits Review Board (Board) decision that upheld an administrative law judge's (ALJ's) determination that a Black Lung Benefits Act claimant established that a deceased relative suffered from black lung disease. The ALJ based its decision on the opinion of the pathol...

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, ...

The court affirms a trial court dismissal of a company's claim under R.C. Chapter 3746—the state voluntary action cleanup law—against the state department of transportation for costs allegedly incurred cleaning up contaminated company property. The court first holds that the company failed to un...

The Eighth Circuit remanded a lower court decision dismissing an environmental group's Freedom of Information Act request for certain documents prepared in connection with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' (the Corps') Upper Mississippi River System Flow Frequency Study. The lower court ruled in fav...

The Ninth Circuit remanded a lower court's award of enhanced attorney fees in favor of an environmental group that sued the U.S. Navy for violating certain environmental laws in connection with its use of mid-frequency active sonar in waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands. The group used attorneys...

A district court denied a railroad's motion to bring the state of Montana into an environmental contamination lawsuit between private property owners and the railroad. The state is immune from suit under the Eleventh Amendment. The state has not consented to involvement in this action and, in fact, ...

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...

A district court granted a motion to bar a former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator's deposition in a cost recovery action under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act in connection with the General Color site in New Jersey. Under United Stat...

The D.C. Circuit denied an individual's request for attorney fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) despite having won her lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) concerning the mute swan. In that case, the court held that the DOI's exclusion of the mute swan fr...

The U.S. Supreme Court held that environmental groups lack standing to challenge U.S. Forest Service regulations exempting certain land management activities from the agency's review process absent a live dispute over the concrete application of those regulations. The regulations exempt small fire-r...