The court holds that an environmental group's challenge to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' shoreline management plan is for the most part moot, but where there is a live controversy concerning the legality of boat docks constructed under the management plan, the Corps acted arbitrarily and capriciou...

The court vacates a preliminary injunction enjoining a New York town from proceeding with its condemnation action against a landowner. The city sought to condemn the landowner's property as part of its redevelopment plan for the city's downtown and waterfront area. The owner argued, and a district c...

The court dismisses on ripeness grounds a conservation group's claim that the U.S. Forest Service violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by failing to carry out certain conservation programs in its management of the Medicine Bow National Forest in Wyoming. Specifically, the group argued that by a...

The Tenth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision dismissing environmental groups' claims challenging a proposed settlement agreement between Utah and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) concerning the agency's inventory, classification, and management of certain types of BLM and state trust lands. ...

The Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court order enjoining the future planting of disputed genetically engineered alfalfa seed pending the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's completion of an enivironmental impact statement. The district court applied the traditional balancing test, and no...

The Eighth Circuit upheld as moot a lower court decision denying a hunting club's motion to preliminarily enjoin a power company from constructing a 600-megawatt pulverized coal-fired power plant in Hempstead County, Arkansas, without first obtaining a prevention of significant deterioration permit ...

The D.C. Circuit held that a state agency lacked standing to challenge two Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) orders conditionally approving a company's application to site, construct, and operate a liquid natural gas terminal near the mouth of the Delaware River. FERC conditionally approve...

A district court set aside the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS') decision not to designate critical habitat or to prepare a recovery plan for the jaguar. The FWS' critical habitat designation determination was not based on the best scientific evidence available and was inconsistent with the st...

The D.C. Circuit reversed a lower court decision dismissing dairy farmers' action challenging the constitutionality of two amendments to the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act. The dairy farmers alleged that the amendments, which subjected certain large producer-handlers of milk to contribution re...

The Ninth Circuit held that an environmental group is not entitled to attorneys fees in their action challenging a USDA regulation that the agency withdrew while the case was pending. The group alleged that the USDA violated NEPA, the ESA, and the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) in promulgatin...