A district court held that the U.S. Forest Service did not violate NEPA or the APA when it reissued a 30-year special use permit allowing an energy company to continue operating a portion of a 1,100-mile pipeline through the Huron-Manistee National Forest. Built in 1953, the pipeline transports crud...

A district court preliminarily enjoined BLM from enforcing its hydraulic fracturing rule for federal and Native American lands. Various industry, state, and Native American petitioners challenged the rule, arguing that BLM exceeded its authority in promulgating the regulations, and the court agreed....

A district court held that the U.S. Forest Service violated NEPA when it categorically excluded from environmental review a mining company's proposed mineral exploration plan in the Coronado National Forest. The Forest Service categorically excluded the project because it concluded that the project ...

The Ninth Circuit upheld the Bureau of Indian Affairs' (BIA's) approval of a Native American tribe's plan to harvest 268 acres of timber in the Coquille Forest in southwest Oregon. An environmental group challenged the approval, arguing that BIA failed to adequately consider the cumulative environme...

The Ninth Circuit held that the U.S. Forest Service's continued authorization of a 6-foot-tall Jesus statue on national forest land overlooking a northwestern Montana ski resort does not violate the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The statue, known as "Big Mountain Jesus," was placed ...

The Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court decision dismissing an environmental group's ESA lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service concerning the agency's approval of suction dredge mining projects in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. Because the Forest provides designated critical habitat fo...

The Ninth Circuit reinstated application of the roadless rule to the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, holding that USDA violated the APA when it exempted the Forest from the rule. When USDA issued the roadless rule in 2001, it refused to exempt the Tongass National Forest from the rule, which bans...

A district court held that DOI has unreasonably delayed agency action in the agency's review of an oil and gas drilling permit on BLM lands in Montana held sacred to Native Americans. Under the APA, agencies must decide issues presented to them within a reasonable time. Here, BLM initially approved ...

A district court denied Alaska's request for a court order directing DOI to review the state's plan for the exploration of oil and gas resources in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). When Congress enacted the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) in 1980, it authorized th...

The Ninth Circuit held that the U.S. Forest Service violated NEPA and other environmental safeguards when it designated over 2 million acres of public land within the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest for use by snowmobiles and other winter motorized vehicles. In 2009, the Forest Service issued a...