The Ninth Circuit dismissed individuals' appeal from a judgment for defendants in a case claiming that they violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the California Environmental Quality Act in adopting a National Park Service (NPS) program to restore and protect Santa Cruz Island by, in pa...

A district court dismissed a lawsuit filed by Alaska native groups seeking to rescind certain oil and gas leases issued by the Minerals Management Service (MMS) in 2007. The MMS prepared an EIS in 2003 for lease sales that were to occur in 2003, 2005, and 2007. Because of the time lag between the 20...

The D.C. Circuit held that a consumer group lacks standing to challenge a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) safety standard requiring a warning system for underinflated tires. The group alleged that some of its members will suffer car accidents in the future that otherwise would...

The D.C. Circuit held that a lower court improperly dismissed individuals' National Environmental Policy Act and National Historic Preservation Act claims against the Secretary of the Army and developers in connection with the closure and redevelopment of Fort Ritchie, a former U.S. Army base in wes...

The Eighth Circuit held that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when it implemented certain revisions to the operational document for the Missouri River Mainstem Reservoir System without preparing a supplemental environmental impact statemen...

The D.C. Circuit held that the U.S. Department of the Interior's (DOI's) approval of a proposed casino on Native American lands did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). An internal DOI document states that proposals for "large" and/or "potentially controversial" gaming establish...

The Fifth Circuit dismissed as moot an environmental group's Clean Water Act (CWA) citizen suit against a city for violating its separate storm sewer system permit. The lower court dismissed the case on grounds that it was barred by res judicata. But because a consent decree in a prior U.S. Environm...

The Fifth Circuit upheld a lower court order giving an aluminum company more time to build a power plant than originally agreed to in a consent decree that resolved alleged Clean Air Act violations at the company's manufacturing plant. After the company failed to meet the decree's deadline for comme...

The Ninth Circuit held that Native American tribes lacked standing to enforce a consent decree entered into by a mining company and the federal government for Resource Conservation and Recovery Act violations at the company's phosphorous plant located on land within a tribal reservation. In addition...

The First Circuit denied a petition for review of a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) order permitting the construction of a new taxiway at Boston's Logan International Airport. The new taxiway is intended to ease congestion at the airport, thereby reducing the amount of time planes spend idling...