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...
The Third Circuit denied petitions to review FAA's FONSI decision approving construction of a new terminal at an airport in New Jersey. Petitioners argued FAA erroneously determined that the project did not expand the terminal and would not induce air traffic growth, failed to consider the cumulativ...
A district court granted in part and denied in part the federal government's motion to dismiss a second amended complaint in an ongoing civil rights lawsuit brought by 21 young people. Plaintiffs argued the government promoted the exploitation of fossil fuels despite knowing its actions would signif...
The D.C. Circuit affirmed a district court order remanding to state court a climate liability suit brought against oil and gas companies. The District of Columbia initially sued in state court, arguing the companies deceived consumers about the causal link between fossil fuel usage and climate chang...
A district court denied Indigenous and environmental groups' motion for injunction pending appeal of their challenge to BLM's approval of an oil and gas development project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The groups initially sought to preliminarily enjoin construction through the remainde...
The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the Forest Service in a challenge to its approval of a logging project in Inyo National Forest. Environmental groups argued the Service failed to adequately consider alternatives, failed to solicit public comments following its 2018 EA, and failed to s...
In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that granted two cities' motion to remand to state court climate liability suits brought against five oil and gas companies. The cities of San Francisco and Oakland initially sued the companies in state court, arguing the ...
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) Climate Disclosure Rule has provoked heated controversy on many fronts. Several commenters have argued that the First Amendment precludes the SEC from demanding climate-related disclosures. This Article grapples with the unsettled state of “compelled commercial speech” doctrine, arguing that the rule’s constitutionality should be scrutinized using the prevailing rational basis test, and that even under the intermediate scrutiny test, the rule should be upheld.
Oil companies and their agents have been actively involved in creating and propagating climate change disinformation for the past half-century. In response to this deception, more than two dozen American states and cities have sued these companies under traditional tort-based causes of action like public nuisance, fraud, negligence, and failure to warn, alleging that the companies fueled uncertainty about climate science and undercut public support for necessary climate action.
The Fifth Circuit dismissed intervening environmental groups' challenge to a district court order requiring the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to hold an oil and gas lease sale on the outer continental shelf in the Gulf of Mexico. The state of Louisiana and oil companies initially sued BOE...