The Montana Supreme Court affirmed in part a ruling that granted summary judgment for environmental groups in a challenge to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality's (MDEQ's) approval of an exploration license for mining on private land north of Yellowstone National Park. The groups argued ...

A district court remanded BLM's authorization and issuance of 59 leases of public land in the Uinta Basin for oil and gas exploration. Conservation groups challenged BLM's decision on several NEPA grounds and sought to have it vacated. The court found that the agency took an appropriately hard look ...

The Ninth Circuit vacated the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM’s) approval of an offshore drilling and production facility in the Beaufort Sea. Environmental groups argued that BOEM violated NEPA by arbitrarily and capriciously estimating the environmental consequences of the alternativ...

A district court granted in part and denied in part environmental groups' motion for summary judgment in a challenge to the Army Corps of Engineers' approval of permits for a methanol plant in southwestern Washington. The groups argued that the Corps' EA was insufficient, that the agency should have...

A district court denied a motion to vacate three oil and gas leases issued by BLM in southeastern New Mexico. An environmental group argued BLM violated NEPA by failing to take a "hard look" at the environmental impacts of the leases and failing to sufficiently justify its decision not to prepare an...

The Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court ruling that the California Department of Transportation failed to adequately consider the environmental impacts of a proposed highway improvement project in a state park. Residents and environmental groups challenged the project on a variety of grounds, inclu...

A district court denied landowners' motion to preliminarily enjoin an irrigation project in central Oregon. The landowners first argued that the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) violated NEPA by failing to include in its EA two farm-efficiency alternatives and an adequate analysis of th...

A district court granted in part nonprofit groups' motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit concerning BLM's review of cumulative climate impacts of oil and gas leases in Wyoming. The groups argued that BLM's supplemental EA prepared in response to the court's previous ruling that the agency had fai...

A district court granted in part and denied in part advocacy and industry groups' motion for summary judgment in a challenge to FDA's decision to allow a company to create and farm genetically engineered salmon. The groups argued that FDA violated NEPA by failing to take a sufficiently "hard look" a...

A district court granted BLM's request to remand without vacatur 27 oil and gas leasing decisions across five states. Environmental groups argued that BLM failed to consider the cumulative impacts of the leases as required under NEPA, and sought to have them vacated and remanded. The court found tha...