In an en banc decision, the Ninth Circuit, 6-5, affirmed a district court order denying a tribal group's motion for preliminary injunction against the U.S. government's transfer of federal land within Tonto National Forest to a mining company. The land is a site of spiritual value to the Western Apa...
The Montana Supreme Court, 5-2, reversed a lower court order that revoked the Montana Department of Environmental Quality's (MDEQ's) approval of a permit for construction and operation of a proposed copper mine. Conservation groups argued MDEQ's issuance of the permit violated the state's Metal Mine...
A magistrate judge recommended that a challenge to the city of Portland's amendments to its land use code imposing certain limits on the construction of new or expanded bulk fossil fuel terminals be dismissed. The state of Montana and fuel industry trade groups argued the amendments violated the dor...
Since passage of the early natural resource protection laws and regulations in the United States decades ago, legal, technical, and economic practitioners have been challenged with understanding the ever-changing and ever-evolving environmental law and policy landscape. Riveting changes have advanced the position of natural resources and related matters of conservation and biodiversity across domestic and international agendas, in corporate, government, and public interest agendas, and in the lives of everyday citizens.
In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit vacated a district court's judgment reinstating a 2016 moratorium on new coal leasing on public lands that was lifted by a DOI secretarial order in 2017. Environmental groups, several states, and a tribe argued BLM's final EA and FONSI violated NEPA. DOI ...
The D.C. Circuit dismissed for mootness a nonprofit group's petition to review FERC's determination that a proposed liquefied natural gas facility in Port St. Joe, Florida, fell outside the Commission's jurisdiction under §3 of the Natural Gas Act. The group's members argued they would suffer econo...
The D.C. Circuit on remand reinstated its prior judgment in a challenge to FERC's issuance of a certificate for construction of a natural gas pipeline through the Appalachian Mountains. Property owners in the proposed path sued the pipeline owner in district court, raising constitutional challenges ...
The Fourth Circuit reversed a district court order abstaining from ruling on constitutional claims brought by mineral interest owners challenging amendments to West Virginia's oil and gas conservation law. Plaintiffs argued the amendments, which for the first time authorized "unitization of interest...
The United States has historically valued free access to most public lands. But federal land management agencies also rely on users’ fee dollars to support critical operations. This tension between “free access” and “user pays” has been an important feature of public land law since the late 1800s. The primary statute at issue is the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA), which authorizes fees at some sites while mandating free access at others.
A district court denied an environmental group's motion for summary judgment in a challenge to the Forest Service's approval of a restoration project in Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. The group argued the Service violated NEPA and its implementing regulations in designing, analyzing, and implem...