A district court expanded a preliminary injunction already in place to prevent the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) from shipping any low-level or mixed low-level transuranic waste to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington. The risks associated with disposal of low-level or mixed low-level was...

A district court held that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) improperly segmented its analysis of a petroleum pipeline construction project in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act. The BLM erroneously determined that the pipeline segment had independent utility from another proposed ...

The court vacated a lower court order denying environmental groups' motion for attorneys fees in an underlying case challenging a surface mining operation permit. In that case, the groups sought, and eventually obtained, a writ of mandamus setting aside the permit. Pursuant to California Code of Civ...

The court upholds a district court decision that the U.S. Navy's environmental impact statement (EIS) for the construction of an aircraft landing field in North Carolina was deficient under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), but it vacates the court's injunction of the project as overly b...

A court dismisses an environmental group's Endangered Species Act (ESA) and National Environmental Policy Act claims against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries concerning logging activity on private lands in Humboldt County, California, a...

The court holds that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers complied with the National Environmental Policy Act in connection with its plan to preserve an aquifer in the Grand Prairie Region in East Central Arkansas, a major rice producing area. The plan includes the construction of a system that would pu...

The court upholds the U.S. Forest Service's decision allowing the salvage of dead and/or dying trees on up to 250 acres to proceed without the preparation of an environmental impact statement or environmental assessment. The methodology the Forest Service used in promulgating the categorical exclusi...

The court rejects a mining association's statutory and constitutional claims challenging a 1999 Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) rule defining "valid existing rights." The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act prohibits new surface coal mining operations on certain lan...

The court holds that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by categorically refusing to consider the environmental effects of a potential terrorist attack in connection with its approval of a proposed spent fuel storage installation. The NRC ar...

The court denies a petition for review challenging the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary's decision to grant a license for a liquefied natural gas facility in the Gulf of Mexico. The DOT's environmental impact statement for the project complies with the National Environmental Policy ...