Bair v. California Department of Transportation
A district court preliminarily enjoined the California transportation agency's proposal to widen a highway that runs through old-growth redwood trees in Richardson Grove State Park. Environmental groups challenged the project under NEPA, the Department of Transportation Act, the Wild and Scenic Rive...
Kentucky Riverkeeper, Inc. v. Midkiff
A district court dismissed environmental groups' suit for declaratory and injunctive relief challenging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' nationwide permitting program, and, specifically, its use throughout the Appalachian region to issue permits for mining activities. The groups alleged CWA, N...
Guam Preservation Trust v. Gregory
A district court, in an underlying NEPA suit, denied the Navy's request for a voluntary remand for further consideration of the future location of a firing range complex in Guam. Plaintiffs argued that a voluntary remand to the agency is only appropriate where either there have been intervening...
Hillsdale Environmental Loss Center v. United States Army Corps of Engineers
A district court dismissed an environmental group's claim that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated NEPA, the CWA, and the APA by granting a CWA §404 permit to a railroad company without completing an EIS. The Corps' finding that the chosen site was the least environmentally damaging prac...
Sierra Club v. Jackson
The D.C. Circuit upheld the dismissal of a CAA citizen suit challenging EPA's failure to take action to prevent the construction of three proposed pollution-emitting facilities in Kentucky. The lower court held that there was no mandatory duty to act and granted EPA's motion to dismiss for lack...
Natural Resources Defense Council v. Environmental Protection Agency
The D.C. Circuit vacated an EPA guidance document addressing obligations of regions still in nonattainment of the 1997 one-hour ozone NAAQS. The guidance binds EPA regional directors and thus qualifies as final agency action. As such, it amounts to a legislative rule issued in violation of the ...
Natural Resources Defense Council v. South Coast Air Quality Management District
The Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of an environmental group's CAA claim challenging an air quality district's method for offsetting emissions increases in its new source review permit program. The district's regulation, contained in the state's EPA-approved SIP, requires that most increase...