The Ninth Circuit held that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation took the requisite "hard look" under NEPA in its analysis of a proposed incremental drawdown of water from Lake Roosevelt in Washington state. Although a portion of the EA exclusively devoted to cumulative effects is conclusory and unenl...

A district court upheld the OSM's approval of amendments to West Virginia's federally approved SMCRA program that pertain to cumulative hydrologic impact assessments. The amendments delete the program's definition of “cumulative impact” and add a definition for “material damage to the ...

The Tenth Circuit dismissed petitions challenging National Park Service (NPS) rules governing snowmobile use in the Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, and the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway. Petitioners, which included Wyoming, snowmobile associations, and a county, ...

The Ninth Circuit held that the U.S. Forest Service did not violate NEPA when it allowed a ski resort operator to make artificial snow with reclaimed water. The lower court erred in holding that the suit was barred by laches. Although the plaintiffs lacked diligence in pursuing their claims, a l...

The Ninth Circuit held that DOE's environmental assessment of a prospective "biosafety level-3" facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory complied with NEPA. DOE took the requisite "hard look" at the threat of a direct terrorist attack at the facility. DOE also reasonably exercised ...

The Fourth Circuit dismissed environmental groups' NEPA claim against the Federal Highway Administration and the Virginia Department of Transportation concerning improvements to a highway. The groups claimed that the agencies are attempting to foreclose consideration of environmentally friendly ...

The Eleventh Circuit held that the Federal Highway Administration (FHwA) did not violate NEPA or §4 of the DOT Act in its planning and development of a bridge project in Florida. A citizens group argued that the FHwA improperly relied on a state agency's Feasibility Study and Corridor Report wh...

The Ninth Circuit reversed in part and affirmed in part a lower court decision that U.S. Forest Service complied with NEPA and the APA when it amended the Sierra Nevada forest plan in 2004. In stark contrast to the 2001 EIS, which contained a 64-page detailed analysis of the environmental conseq...