The Fifth Circuit vacated the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC's) decision that two natural gas pipelines perform a "transportation" function rather than a "gathering" function, thereby subjecting them to FERC jurisdiction's under the Natural Gas Act. Natural gas flows from gathering pip...

A district court held that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) improperly segmented its analysis of a petroleum pipeline construction project in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act. The BLM erroneously determined that the pipeline segment had independent utility from another proposed ...

The court vacated a lower court order denying environmental groups' motion for attorneys fees in an underlying case challenging a surface mining operation permit. In that case, the groups sought, and eventually obtained, a writ of mandamus setting aside the permit. Pursuant to California Code of Civ...

The court remanded portions of a 2002 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule interpreting when a major stationary source undertakes a "modification," thereby triggering the Clean Air Act's new source review (NSR) requirements. EPA erred in promulgating the clean unit applicability test, whi...

The court upholds a district court decision that the U.S. Navy's environmental impact statement (EIS) for the construction of an aircraft landing field in North Carolina was deficient under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), but it vacates the court's injunction of the project as overly b...

A court dismisses an environmental group's Endangered Species Act (ESA) and National Environmental Policy Act claims against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries concerning logging activity on private lands in Humboldt County, California, a...

The court affirms a district court's grant of summary judgment to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) on environmental groups' request for civil penalties and on its claim as to violations of the Clean Air Act's (CAA's) 20% opacity limitation occurring before May 20, 1999, but it reversed summary j...

The court holds that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers complied with the National Environmental Policy Act in connection with its plan to preserve an aquifer in the Grand Prairie Region in East Central Arkansas, a major rice producing area. The plan includes the construction of a system that would pu...

The court reverses the dismissal of an individual's complaint against his employer under the Clean Air Act's (CAA's) whistleblower provision. The U.S. Department of Labor's Administrative Review Board (ARB) dismissed the complaint reasoning that the individual did not engage in a protected activity ...

The court upholds the U.S. Forest Service's decision allowing the salvage of dead and/or dying trees on up to 250 acres to proceed without the preparation of an environmental impact statement or environmental assessment. The methodology the Forest Service used in promulgating the categorical exclusi...