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 court held that a regional water board violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) when it issued a national pollution discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit concerning municipal stormwater and urban runoff discharges in Los Angeles County. Contrary to the board's argument, state...

The court held that a state environmental agency arbitrarily and capriciously denied a pipeline company's application for a water quality certificate that would allow it to discharge into waters of Long Island Sound during the construction of an interstate natural gas pipeline. The agency failed to ...

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 court held that a biomedical company may go forward with its suit for injunctive relief to stop terrifying acts allegedly committed by members of an animal rights group who targeted the company's employees as part of an effort to expose animal abuse in biomedical labs. The group argued that the co...

A court dismissed an environmental group's lawsuit against wind power operators in the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area. The group argued that the operators violated the state's unfair competition law and the common-law public trust doctrine based on bird collisions with the wind turbines. But the g...

A district court held that the U.S. Department of the Interior need not release certain documents to a nonprofit group relating to the National Park Service's (NPS') proposal to enter into "benefits sharing" agreements with private parties permitting the collection and commercial use of biological m...

A district court granted in part and denied in part motions to dismiss a lawsuit challenging a local ballot initiative that prohibits the land application of sewage treatment residues in the unincorporated areas of a county. A city that generates the biosolids, as well as farms and contractors who r...

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...