The Eleventh Circuit held that a developer is entitled to a charitable deduction on its 2006 tax return for granting a conservation easement on an 82-acre parcel of property that contained a bald eagle nest. The developer valued the parcel at $25.2 million on the assumption that the property's highe...

The Ninth Circuit upheld a proposed management plan for the Presidio, a former military base in San Franciso that is now a National Park and a National Historic Landmark, that provides for the construction of a 70,000 square foot lodge. The Presidio is managed by the Presidio Trust, a wholly owned g...

The Ninth Circuit, in an unpublished opinion, held that environmental groups have standing to bring a RCRA citizen suit against the U.S. Forest Service for failing to regulate the disposal of spent lead ammunition in the Kaibab National Forest. The groups allege that the Forest Service's failure to ...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision denying environmental groups' motion to preliminarily enjoin a forest fire recovery project in the southern Oregon Klamath Mountains. After a fire destroyed approximately 48,000 acres of forest in Oregon, BLM initiated the project to salvage remainin...

A district court denied a motion to preliminarily enjoin BLM and the U.S. Forest Service from implementing certain amendments to their resource management plans that were made to better protect the greater sage-grouse and its habitat. The amended resource management plans govern 67 million acres of ...

The Supreme Court of California held that the state fish and wildlife agency violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the California Fish and Game Code when it approved a large development project in northwest Los Angeles County. The agency prepared an environmental impact report...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision that BLM complied with NEPA and FLPMA in allowing the construction of a utility-scale wind project in California's Sonoran Desert. BLM sufficiently evaluated and disclosed the environmental impacts of the wind energy facility project under NEPA. Envi...

A district court dismissed environmental groups' lawsuit challenging the Federal Highway Administration's (FHwA's) approval of a bridge and highway project that will cross Florida's St. Lucie River, including portions of the St. Lucie River Aquatic Preserve and the Savannas Preserve State Park. In a...

A district court dismissed several claims a group of cattle ranchers filed against USDA and DOI concerning actions taken to protect the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse, an endangered species. Following the listing of the species in 2014, the U.S. Forest Service proposed to erect a five-foot pipe fen...

A district court held that the U.S. Forest Service did not violate NEPA or the APA when it reissued a 30-year special use permit allowing an energy company to continue operating a portion of a 1,100-mile pipeline through the Huron-Manistee National Forest. Built in 1953, the pipeline transports crud...