A district court enjoined the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from leasing approximately 1.7 million acres within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska for oil exploration. The lease concerns vast areas of sensitive wetlands surrounding Lake Teshekpuk that are protected under the National Petrole...
The court denied mining industry groups' and mine operators' petitions for review of three Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) rules regulating diesel particulate matter (DPM) in underground mines. The court rejected the petitioners' claim that the MSHA did not have sufficient evidence that...
The court held that the U.S. Air Force was liable to homebuilders who had cleaned up asbestos contamination at the former Lowry Air Force Base in Denver. The homebuilders didn't discover the asbestos until after they purchased the former base property. When the Air Force refused to clean up the asbe...
The Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court decision invalidating U.S. Forest Service regulations governing the review of decisions implementing forest plans, but remanded the court's judgment with respect to the remaining challenged regulations on ripeness grounds. Only two of the regulations, 36 C.F.R....
The Fourth Circuit affirmed an award of attorney fees in a citizen suit brought under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act with respect to the preliminary injunction phase of the litigation, but reversed fees awarded for the supplemental claims phase. The supplemental phase included plaint...
The D.C. Circuit upheld the U.S. Department of the Interior's (DOI's) interpretation of "valid existing rights" in a 1999 rule to foreclose surface mining operations in sensitive areas. A mining association argued that Congress inserted "valid existing rights" in the Surface Mining Control and Recla...
The Fourth Circuit denied motions to dismiss North Carolina's common-law nuisance action against the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) alleging that its coal plants emit various pollutants that travel through the atmosphere into the state, thereby adversely impacting human health and environmental qu...
The D.C. Circuit denied a petition challenging a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) order directing a pipeline operator that expanded its pipeline and added compressors to carry gas shipped by several new customers to allocate the added electricity costs only to the customers for whom the e...
The First Circuit denied Massachusetts' petition for review of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) order denying its request to participate directly in a re-licensing proceeding of two nuclear energy plants as a "party" before the agency issues its renewal decision. Massachusetts argued that it mu...
The D.C. Circuit held that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, or residents' due process rights in its treatment of a hydroelectric project operator that violated its licen...