The court holds that a consent judgment under which the United States acquired title to Horn Island in the Gulf of Mexico is null and void. Plaintiff-appellants had contracted to sell a portion of the island to the United States, which sought it as part of a proposed national park. The United States...

The court holds that an interdepartmental memorandum of agreement that provides for a 20-day public comment period for environmental assessments prepared for timber salvage sales in the Hoosiers National Forest is valid under the Rescissions Act. The court holds that the Rescissions Act authorizes t...

The court holds that a U.S. Forest Service proposal for a logging project and road extension in the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), but not the National Forest Management Act (NFMA). The court first holds that neither the district cour...

The court holds that a ranch owner with inholdings within the Apache National Forest and the Gila River Forest Reserve in New Mexico does not have a preexisting patent right or a common-law easement allowing access to the inholdings. The court first holds that the government's claims regarding the r...

The court holds that a district court has subject matter jurisdiction to determine whether a city, in light of its post-settlement actions, is estopped from refusing to approve a waste management company's construction of buildings on the south side of landfill property. A settlement agreement betwe...

The court holds that a U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) rule concerning natural resource damage (NRD) assessments under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) does not violate the Administrative Procedure Act or CERCLA. The rule, challenged by a manuf...

The court affirms that the denial of a Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) permit did not breach a contract between a developer and the government of the Virgin Islands allowing for the development of an island off the coast of St. Thomas. The court first holds that the agreement unambiguously grants...

The court upholds the Secretary of the Interior's approval of increased dock fees charged by a private marina operator at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. The court first holds that, in approving the operator's rate increase requests, the Secretary did not act arbitrarily or capriciously in v...

The court holds that a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' determination that landowners' property comprised jurisdictional wetlands, which resulted in the recision of a private contract for the sale of the property, did not constitute a compensable taking. The court first holds that the cancellation of t...

The Court holds that an environmental group's challenge to a U.S. Forest Service land and resource management plan (LRMP) for Wayne National Forest in Ohio is not yet ripe for review. The environmental group brought suit alleging that the Forest Service's approval of the Wayne National Forest LRMP v...