The court holds that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when it failed to consider, in an environmental impact statement (EIS), reasonable alternatives to creating a single source of water to satisfy the needs of both a municipality and a contiguou...

The court holds that the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), which entered into two agreements with Canada regarding rights to excess water stored in reservoirs on the Columbia River system in Canada, did not violate the Northwest Power Act (NPA) or the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). T...

The court holds that the U.S. Forest Service's (the Service's) environmental impact statement (EIS) and record of decision (ROD) for a mining operation on and around Buckhorn Mountain in California did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act, the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), or Nati...

The court affirms the dismissal of a community association's motion for a preliminary injunction to halt the construction of a 4-lane, 77-mile highway around Nashville, Tennessee. Although the highway has been exclusively funded by the state, the association argued that the federal government failed...

The court denies petitions to review the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA's) decisions to categorically exclude the closure of a Missouri city's airport from the National Environmental Policy Act's (NEPA's) environmental assessment (EA) requirement and to release the city's federal obligation ...

The Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court order enjoining the future planting of disputed genetically engineered alfalfa seed pending the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's completion of an enivironmental impact statement. The district court applied the traditional balancing test, and no...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision that the U.S. Coast Guard (Coast Guard) did not violate appellants' First Amendment rights or the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when it established safety zones insulating a private "super ferry" in Hawaii from blockade by local protesters...

The Eighth Circuit denied a petition for review of a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) order authorizing the reconstruction of the Taum Sauk Pumped Storage Project, a hydroelectric generating plant in the Missouri Ozarks. In 2005, the upper reservoir of the project collapsed, and the opera...

The Fourth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision denying a motion to dismiss environmental groups' National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) claim against the director of the South Carolina Department of Transportation concerning the construction of a bridge. The director argued that the claims aga...

The First Circuit denied a petition for review of the Federal Aviation Agency's (FAA's) decision to reroute aircraft approaching and departing Logan Airport in Boston. Peer-reviewed noise studies showed that the impact on noise levels would not be significant. Accordingly, the FAA did not err in fin...