Scarborough Citizens Protecting Resources v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
The First Circuit upheld the dismissal of a citizen group's lawsuit against the FWS in a suit concerning Maine's conveyance of easements on a recreational trail purchased with federal funds. The Wildlife Restoration Act, enacted in 1937, authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to disburse money...
Cooperstown Holstein Corp. v. Town of Middlefield
A New York court upheld a town's enactment of a zoning law that bans oil and gas drilling, including hydraulic fracturing, within the geographical borders of the township. The holder of two gas leases argued that §23-0303 of New York's Environmental Conservation Law preempts the zoning law. The...
PPL Montana, LLC v. Montana
The U.S. Supreme Court reversed a state court decision that Montana may charge rent from an electric company that owns dams on the Missouri, Madison, and Clark Fork rivers. The Montana Supreme Court held that title to the riverbeds passed to Montana when it became a state in 1889 and awarded alm...
Jersey City v. Consolidated Rail Corp.
The D.C. Circuit held that a city has standing to challenge a railroad company's sale of a historic elevated railroad embankment to developers. The city argued that the sale was void because the company failed to obtain approval from the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to abandon the property...