The First Circuit upheld the dismissal of a Native American tribe's claim challenging the Bureau of Indian Affair's (BIA's) decision to allow a plot of tribal land to be leased for the construction and operation of a liquefied natural gas facility. The tribe argued that the BIA's decision violated t...

The Tenth Circuit held that a proposed intervener may not establish standing, and thus federal court jurisdiction over its motion to intervene, by "piggybacking" on the standing of an existing party to a lawsuit over which the district court has retained jurisdiction but within which there is no cur...

The Ninth Circuit held that animal rights organizations lacked standing to challenge a USDA notice stating that "there is no specific federal humane handling and slaughter statute for poultry." The lower court entered summary judgment in favor of the USDA, holding that while the plain meaning of the...

The Third Circuit affirmed a lower court decision denying a mining company's motion to expand a preliminary injunction and enjoin asbestos claims against the state of Montana arising from the company's mining operations. The company filed for Chapter 11 under the Bankruptcy Code in 2001. The same da...

A district court remanded to state court a city's CWA and state law claims against another city challenging its imposition of a 25% surcharge on wastewater treatment services. The plaintiff city seeks a declaration that the surcharge violates the CWA. Although the plaintiff city referred to the fede...

A district court granted in part and denied in part the motion of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to dismiss a mine operator’s action relating to the MSHA’s use of a citation quota, which allegedly caused mine inspectors to issue baseless citations to the operator. As a ...

A district court granted in part and denied in part the United States' motion to dismiss citizen groups’ claims challenging the approval of certain quarterly oil and gas lease sales under, among other things, the APA, FLPMA, the Mineral Lands Leasing Act (MLLA), the National Forest Management ...

The D.C. Circuit denied industry groups’ petition for review of a Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) decision to enforce a final exposure limit standard for exposure of miners in metal and non-metal underground mines to diesel particulate matter (DPM) in diesel exhaust. This decision...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and vacated in part a lower court decision related to the United States’ effort to recoup under the Fallon Paiute Shoshone Indian Tribes Water Rights Settlement Act of 1990 (Settlement Act) excess diversions of water that an irrigation district permitted over man...

The Fifth Circuit vacates an earlier ruling in which a panel reversed a lower court decision dismissing Mississippi residents' class action lawsuit against several energy, fossil fuel, and chemical companies for their alleged contribution to climate change. When the court first granted rehearing en ...