The Sixth Circuit affirms a district court judgment upholding the Interior Board of Land Appeals' (IBLA's) decision that a mining company violated federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) regulations requiring the elimination of cliff-like rock walls known as "highwalls" at its sur...

The court affirms a district court decision denying residents' request to preliminarily enjoin a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' (the Corps') permit allowing the use of federal waters and wetlands for construction of an electric-generating plant in Athens, New York, near the banks of the Hudson River....

The court holds that the citizen suit provision of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), §520(f), provides a federal cause of action for the recovery of damages resulting from violation of state regulations that are a part of the state's surface coal mining and reclamation regulat...

The court holds that the U.S. Forest Service implementation of interim resource conservation policies in nine national forests was not arbitrary or capricious and did not violate the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) or the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The Forest Service developed i...

The court holds that the U.S. Forest Service's decision to implement land and resource management plan (LRMP) amendments prospectively, but not retroactively, does not violate the National Forest Management Act (NFMA). The court first holds that the grant of authority to amend the LRMPs includes the...

The court holds that the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA's) approval of the expansion of Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport does not violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or the Clean Air Act (CAA). The court first rejects the arguments made by two cities that if FAA had taken a...

The court upholds a U.S. Department of Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) determination that a company's failure to file a stipulation of entry rendered its mining claims null and void ab initio. When the Secretary of the Interior opened certain lands to mining claims in 1954, he required that a ...

The court holds that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC's) decision to approve a city's application to amend a hydroelectric power license did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or the Federal Power Act (FPA). The application proposed the running of a 9.6-mile pow...

The court holds that an intraagency memorandum discussing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' proposal to protect the pallid sturgeon in Missouri is exempt from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) disclosure under the deliberative process privilege. The court first holds that the sturgeon memo is protec...

The court holds unripe for review the Interior Board of Land Appeals' (IBLA's) ruling that the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) lacks jurisdiction to order a mining company to reduce acid mine drainage seeping from a mining operation in West Virginia. The IBLA ruled that th...