A district court held that the U.S. Forest Service's Public Wheeled Motorized Travel Management Decision for the Eldorado National Forest violated the ESA and the National Forest Management Act. The decision designates specific roads and trails within the forest as open to public motor vehicle ...

The D.C. Circuit set aside an order of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission denying a mining company's application for temporary relief from restrictions that the Mine Safety and Health Administration imposed on it in conjunction with its investigation of an explosion at one of its m...

The First Circuit upheld the dismissal of a developer's federal takings claim against two state agencies for restricting its development of a coastal residential subdivision in Rhode Island. In Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City, 473 U.S. 172 (19...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and vacated in part a lower court decision largely granting summary judgment in favor of the U.S. Forest Service on environmental groups' and California's NEPA and NFMA claims challenging the agency's 2004 Sierra Nevada forest plan amendment and a timber harve...

A California appellate court held that a city's revised environmental impact report (EIR) for a proposed development project along an estuary complies with the California Environmental Quality Act. The project would develop approximately 64 acres, converting a maritime and industrial area into ...

A district court reinstated the roadless area conservation rule to the Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska. The court previously ruled on motions for summary judgment that a U.S. Forest Service rule exempting the Tongass from the roadless rule's prohibitions was arbitrary and capricious. ...

The Eighth Circuit held that the U.S. Forest Service's revised forest plan for the Superior National Forest complied with NEPA. The environmental groups that filed the suit have standing, given the immediate, concrete consequences for the recreational interests of specific visitors to the Su...

A district court held that the USDA Rural Utilities Service's (RUS') failure to prepare an EIS in connection with the expansion of a coal-fired power plant violated NEPA. RUS' involvement in the project, including financial assistance under the Rural Electrification Act, constitutes a "major fe...

A district court dismissed a mining industry association's action challenging DOI Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) regulations allocating the burden of proof in five types of administrative proceedings under SMCRA. The association argued that the regulations impermissibly shift the ultimate...

A district court held that mining interests may go forward with their CWA, APA, and SMCRA claims against EPA in connection with memoranda and guidance documents concerning permitting processes for coal mining. The documents meet the criteria of final agency actions. The government's view of ...