The court holds that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers took the requisite "hard look" at the environmental and economic impacts of a project that would deepen the Columbia River's navigation channel from 40 feet to 43 feet and add new sites for the disposal of dredged materials. The court concludes t...

The court upholds a lower court decision that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' environmental assessment (EA) for a section of the Atchafalaya Basin, a flood control area in Louisiana, complies with the National Environmental Policy Act. A nonprofit organization of commercial crawfishermen suggested...

The court dismisses as moot a chemical association's challenge to California's pesticide registration laws. The association claimed that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act preempts the state registration laws, but the lower court disagreed. While the association's appeal of that...

The court holds that a lower court improperly dismissed as unripe environmental groups’ claims that the U.S. Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when it amended certain forest plans in the southern United States. The lower court erred in dismissing the case bec...

A district court issues a preliminary ruling that temporarily blocks the Bureau of Land Managment's (BLM's) plans to lease approximately 1.7 million acres within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska for oil exploration. The lease concerns vast areas of sensitive wetlands surrounding Lake Teshekp...

A district court preliminarily enjoined a port from dredging two areas of the San Joaquin River's Deep Water Ship Channel in Stockton, California. Environmental groups argued that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' dredge and fill permit authorizing the two dredging activities violated the National E...

A district court enjoined the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from leasing approximately 1.7 million acres within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska for oil exploration. The lease concerns vast areas of sensitive wetlands surrounding Lake Teshekpuk that are protected under the National Petrole...

The court held that the U.S. Army violated the National Environmental Policy Act in connection with its proposal to transform the 2nd Brigade into a quick-response unit in Hawaii. The local groups challenging the proposal did not waive their right to challenge the sufficiency of the Army's considera...

A district court held that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to take a "hard look" at the environmental impacts and consequences of dredging and disposing of contaminated sediment from the Industrial Canal, a five-mile link just east of New Orleans in the navigational system that connects the ...

A district court granted in part and denied in part cross-motions for summary judgment in a case challenging the National Park Service's (NPS') decision to exempt from agency oversight directional drilling activities in and around Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas. Directional drilling refers t...