Western Energy Alliance v. Biden
A district court affirmed DOI’s decision to postpone oil and gas lease sales in the first quarter of 2021 in response to the president’s issuance of Executive Order No. 14008 pausing new lease sales on federal lands. The state of Wyoming and industry groups challenged DOI’s decisions to postpo...
Gulf Restoration Network v. Haaland
The D.C. Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part summary judgment for DOI in a challenge to a supplemental EIS that BOEM prepared for two oil and gas lease sales in 2018. Three environmental groups had argued that BOEM failed to assess a true “no action” alternative because it assumed ener...
Citizens for Clean Energy v. U.S. Department of the Interior
A district court reinstated a 2016 moratorium on new coal leasing on public lands that had been lifted by a DOI secretarial order in 2017. Environmental groups, states, and a Native American tribe initially filed suit challenging DOI's decision to lift the moratorium, and the court determined the de...
Massachusetts Coalition for Immigration Reform v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security
A district court granted in part and denied in part federal agencies' motion to dismiss a NEPA challenge to the Biden Administration's immigration actions. A coalition seeking immigration reform argued that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of State, and DOJ failed to follow ...
Oglala Sioux Tribe v. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The D.C. Circuit denied a Native American tribe's petition to review NRC's decision to grant a source material license for uranium extraction from ore beds in South Dakota. The tribe initially raised challenges to the license application and NRC's NEPA and National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) p...
Western Organization of Resource Councils v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management
A district court granted summary judgment for environmental groups in a challenge to two BLM resource management plans for coal leasing in Montana and Wyoming. The groups argued BLM violated NEPA by failing to consider a reasonable range of alternatives and failing to consider the downstream impacts...
Delaware Riverkeeper Network v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
The D.C. Circuit denied environmental groups' and township's petitions to review FERC's approval of an application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity for a proposed natural gas pipeline project in Pennsylvania and Delaware. The petitioners argued FERC violated NEPA by failing to a...
Bridges to a New Era: A Report on the Past, Present, and Potential Future of Tribal Co-Management on Federal Public Lands
This abstract is adapted from Monte Mills & Martin Nie, Bridges to a New Era: A Report on the Past, Present, and Potential Future of Tribal Co-Management on Federal Public Lands, 44 Pub. Land & Resources L. Rev. 49 (2021), and used with permission.