The Ninth Circuit held that the BLM violated NEPA when it approved a mining company's amendment to a plan of operations for an existing mineral exploration project in Nevada. The BLM took a hard look at the direct impacts of the amendment and its discussion of reasonable alternatives was proper, but...

The Tenth Circuit rejected environmental and citizens' groups challenge to a 2003 BLM resource management plan amendment allowing natural gas development in Wyoming's Powder River Basin. The groups alleged that BLM violated NEPA when it refused to study in detail their proposal to phase development ...

The Second Circuit held that the USDA complied with NEPA and the Plant Protection Act when it adopted new regulations for the importation of solid wood packaging material into the United States. The final rule required that all solid wood packaging material be either heat treated to a minimum wood c...

The court issues a preliminary injunction halting salvage logging on fire-charred lands in Oregon until the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) resolves serious questions raised by environmental groups as to whether the agency complied with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in authorizing the...

The court affirms a district court's denial of attorney fees to an environmental group whose lawsuit challenging the adequacy of a Federal Highway Administration (FHwA) environmental assessment (EA) was not a material factor in the FHwA's decision to supplement the EA. The court first holds that the...

The court holds that an 11-month period between the publication of a new statutory fee for unpatented mining claims and the compliance deadline afforded a claim holder a reasonable opportunity to comply with the deadline, and, thus, did not violate his procedural due process rights. Pursuant to the ...

The court holds that the Bonneville Power Administration's (BPA) decision to enter or extend power contracts with several direct service industries (DSIs) was not arbitrary and capricious as alleged by a coalition of consumers, public power associations, and environmental groups. The court first add...

The court holds that the U.S. Forest Service's management of national forests in Texas violates the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) and its regulations. As a result of these violations, the court enjoins the Forest Service from engaging in timber harvesting under any method until such time tha...

The court holds that the owners of royalty interests in federal oil and gas leases are not entitled to royalty payments from their lessee. During ongoing title disputes over mineral patent rights between the federal government and several private parties, the lessee acquired both federal and private...

The court affirms a district court holding that, under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), an interagency Port-Orford cedar (POC) management program prepared by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) was not a final agency action that requir...