ELR Citation: 43 ELR 20225
No(s). 12-4160 (3d Cir. Sep 26, 2013)

The Third Circuit affirmed a lower court decision vacating a 2009 settlement agreement between the U.S. Forest Service and environmental groups that banned oil and gas drilling in the Allegheny National Forest pending the completion of a multi-year, forestwide EIS under NEPA. The lower court had previously issued a preliminary injunction enjoining the ban, and the Third Circuit affirmed. The lower court then concluded that because the appellate court's decision was the law of the case and binding, the plaintiffs—mineral owners and others impacted by the drilling ban—had successfully established that the settlement agreement was invalid. On appeal, environmental groups claimed that the lower court erred in its application of the law of the case doctrine, but the court found their arguments unavailing. In the preliminary injunction appeal, the appellate court did not stop its analysis after concluding that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits of the preliminary injunction. Instead, it had decisively resolved the legal claims presented on appeal. Moreover, the panel was very clear that it was ruling on the underlying legal claims and not just on the likelihood of success.