The court holds that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) must prepare a new environmental assessment (EA) for the shipment of 118 spent nuclear fuel rods from Taiwan through the port of Hampton Roads, Virginia, to a processing facility on the Savannah River in South Carolina, because its 1991 EA for...

The court holds that the U.S. Forest Service did not arbitrarily or capriciously conclude that no significant environmental impact would result from the Calispell Timber Sale in Washington State, offered pursuant to the Colville National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan, and, therefore, no e...

The court holds that environmental groups and private individuals are not entitled to a preliminary injunction prohibiting the U.S. Forest Service from implementing animal damage control (ADC) plans to reduce coyote populations in the Dixie and the Fishlake National Forests in Utah. The ADC programs...

The court holds that the Ninth Circuit's exclusive jurisdiction over a challenge to a final decision of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) turns on the action challenged and not on the lawsuit's legal theory. In order to encourage prompt action, the Northwest Power Act (NWPA) grants exclusive...

The court reverses a district court's decision denying a U.S. Forest Service motion for summary judgment that it did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for four timber sales in or bordering on roadless areas in Orego...

The court holds that the issuance of an October 1990 decision memo by the Fall River District Ranger, which implemented an August 1989 decision notice issued by the Forest Supervisor requiring consolidation of black-tailed prairie dog colonies in the Nebraska National Forest, does not violate the Na...

The court holds that the General Services Administration (GSA) did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for its proposal to build a federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon. GSA prepared an environmental assessment (EA) ...

The court holds that the Mineral Management Service (MMS) did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in promulgating a development and production plan (DPP) under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) for an oil and gas development project located off the north coast of Ala...

The court holds that the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) may require applicants for land allotments under the Alaska Native Allotment Act (ANAA) to prove personal use and occupancy independent of immediate family members prior to withdrawal of the land from the public domain. The IBLA denied t...

The court reverses a lower court decision finding the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) liable for the permanent taking of a mining company's leasehold property. The mining company applied to the OSM for a permit and was told that its application was administratively incompl...