The Ninth Circuit granted in part environmental groups' petition to review EPA's decision refusing to revise technology-based effluent limits, guidelines, and standards (ELGs) for certain industries previously promulgated under the CWA. The groups challenged EPA's decision refusing to revise ELGs fo...
The Tenth Circuit reversed a district court decision denying a challenge to the Forest Service's decision to open new domestic sheep grazing allotments in Rio Grande National Forest. An environmental group argued the allotments posed a high risk to local populations of Rocky Mountain bigho...
A district court granted a conservation group's motion to preliminarily enjoin BLM from authorizing grazing in approximately 22,000 acres of land located in key research natural areas (RNAs) that were made unavailable to grazing in BLM's 2015 conservation plan for greater sage-grouse in Oregon....
A district court enjoined construction on a dam expansion project in Colorado in environmental groups' challenge to the Army Corps of Engineers' issuance of a dredge and fill permit. The court previously held the Corps failed to comply with the CWA and NEPA when it issued the permit. The court subse...
The Sixth Circuit denied environmental groups' petition to review the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation's (TDEC's) order issuing a water quality certification for a proposed fossil gas pipeline in Tennessee. The groups argued TDEC arbitrarily and capriciously determined that ...
The Fifth Circuit affirmed denial of summary judgment for two Native American tribes and an environmental group in a challenge to a CWA §404 permit issued by the Army Corps of Engineers to expand operations at an oil export terminal on Texas' Gulf Coast. The tribes and group sought to invalidate th...
In order to manage California wilderness areas to preserve their natural and untrammeled character, as required by the Wilderness Act, federal land management agencies should adopt interpretations of the Act that allow prescribed burning and Indigenous cultural burning in areas where it existed pre-colonialism.
The U.S. Supreme Court held, 5-4, that the CWA does not authorize EPA to include "end-result" provisions in NPDES permits, in a lawsuit concerning the Agency's issuance of a renewal permit for the city of San Francisco that added two such requirements. The city petitioned for review, arguing the req...
A district court granted the Biden Administration's motion to dismiss a challenge to the president's 2023 designation of Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni—Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument. The Arizona state legislature, a cattle rancher, and other plaintiffs argued Proclamatio...
This Comment looks at the background of national scenic trails and lawmakers’ intent for the experiences these trails should provide, analyzes the difference in meaning between the terms and concepts of “on” and “along,” and considers the width of adjacent management areas that lawmakers implied with the use of the latter term. It also examines the management implications of these interpretations, and where agencies and nonprofit trail management partners may go from here.