The Eleventh Circuit upheld FWS' decision denying environmental groups' petitions to designate critical habitat for the Florida panther under the ESA. The Secretary of the Interior listed the Florida panther as an endangered species in 1967—more than a decade before the 1978 amendments required a ...

A district court dismissed California's suit against DOI challenging its approval of the Colorado River Water Delivery Agreement under NEPA and the CAA. The state alleged that DOI failed to comply with the two statutes prior to approving it and sought an order immediately ceasing water deliverie...

The Eleventh Circuit upheld FWS' denial of petitions to designate critical habitat for the Florida panther under the ESA. Environmental groups claimed that the denial of their petitions was arbitrary and capricious under the APA. But neither the ESA nor the regulations cited by the groups provid...

A district court held that the doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel bar individuals' trespass, nuisance, and negligence claims against numerous oil, coal, electric, and chemical companies for damages stemming from Hurricane Katrina. The individuals asserted that the companies' activitie...

The Federal Circuit vacated a trial judge's decision requiring the United States to indemnify certain oil companies for environmental cleanup costs under CERCLA. Because the trial judge's wife owned shares in the parent company of two of the defendant oil companies, he decided to sever the two o...