The Ninth Circuit denied a petition for review of the NRC's refusal to include the threat of air attacks in its revised "design basis threat" rule, initially promulgated to protect nuclear power reactors from industrial sabotage. In March 2007, NRC revised the rule to increase the range of threats i...

The Tenth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision declining a water user association's request for a declaration that it has well-defined rights to develop power in the Diamond Fork System of the Central Utah Project and instead declaring that the association, the United States, and the local water ...

A district court rejected claims that the U.S. Army violated NEPA by failing to provide a supplemental analysis reflecting new alternative destruction technologies that could be used in lieu of on-site incineration at four chemical weapon incineration facilities. For the four challenged sites, the A...

The Ninth Circuit held that BLM failed to take a "hard look" at the environmental consequences of a proposed land exchange between the agency and a mining company in violation of NEPA. The land exchange would transfer ownership of certain BLM property to a mining company, thereby allowing the compan...

The Second Circuit held that DOE's EIS concerning waste management activities at a nuclear service center near Buffalo, New York, complied with NEPA and with the terms of a 1987 settlement agreement between the agency and an environmental group. The EIS addressed only short-term, waste management ac...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision dismissing an Alaskan community's lawsuit against the Minerals Management Service (MMS) challenging its decision not to prepare a supplemental EIS for a proposed oil and gas lease sale on a tract of the outer continental shelf in the Beaufort Sea. MM...

A district court held that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) violated NEPA in its decision to deregulate a variety of genetically engineered sugar beets. Sugar beets are pollinated by both wind and insects, and scientists have documented that sugar beet pollen can disperse up to...

A district court held that the U.S. Forest Service's EIS addressing the land management plans for four national forests in southern California was issued in violation of NEPA and the National Forest Management Act (NFMA). The court rejected many of the plaintiffs' challenges. Nevertheless, the Fores...

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 Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court decision denying Native American tribes' motion to preliminarily enjoin BLM's approval of a large gold mining project on Mt. Tenabo, Nevada, which has religious significance for the tribes. The tribes failed to satisfy their burde...