The D.C. Circuit granted a refining company's petition challenging FERC's methodology for determining payments to oil companies that use the Trans Alaska Pipeline System to transport oil in a commingled stream. Absent monetary adjustments to compensate for the difference in quality between inputs an...

A district court held that BLM failed to take a "hard look" at the environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing with regard to the agency's resource management plan (RMP) for public lands in California's central region. Under the resource management plan, 25% of new wells are expected to use hydraul...

The Supreme Court of California held that the state's moratorium on the use of suction dredges to mine gold from rivers was not preempted by federal mining law. The case arose after an individual challenged his conviction for the possession and unpermitted use of a suction dredge. He argued that the...

The Fifth Circuit reversed a lower court decision that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must bear all the costs of deauthorizing the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MR-GO), instead holding that the Corps' cost-sharing formula with the state of Louisiana was reasonable. The Corps has completed buildin...

A district court held that the U.S. Forest Service violated NEPA, the Wilderness Act, and the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) in connection with its decision to allow drilling, road reconstruction, and the use of motorized vehicles and heavy equipment at the Golden Hand Mine in the Frank Churc...

The Fourth Circuit upheld the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' issuance of a dredge and fill permit to a surface coal mine. Environmental groups challenged the adequacy of the Corps' environmental review, arguing that the Corps violated NEPA and the CWA by failing to consider evidence that surface coal...