The U.S. Tax Court granted in part four North Carolina partnerships' cross-motion for summary judgment in a challenge to penalties the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sought to impose on them for charitable deductions in tax years 2014 and 2015 related to syndicated conservation easement transactions...

The Third Circuit affirmed a lower court's dismissal of a religious group's challenge to FERC's approval of a natural gas pipeline along land owned by the group. The group argued that the use of its land to facilitate extraction, transportation, and use of fossil fuels violated its religious beliefs...

A district court on remand granted San Francisco's and Oakland's motion to remand to state court the cities' lawsuits alleging that six oil companies produce and promote products that create a public nuisance—sea-level rise—when combusted. The court previously denied the motion, finding that eva...

The Eighth Circuit affirmed a district court's dismissal of states' challenge to the Biden Administration's interim estimates on the social costs of greenhouse gas emissions. The states had sought to preliminarily enjoin federal officials, departments, and agencies from using the estimates "as bindi...

In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the Forest Service in a challenge to its planned road construction project near Mount St. Helens to address the threat of a nearby lake's potential breach. Environmental groups argued the project violated NEPA and the Nationa...

The Fifth Circuit affirmed a district court's order remanding back to state court a lawsuit brought against oil companies concerning their operations during World War II. Louisiana parishes initially filed suit in state court, arguing the companies had violated Louisiana's State and Local Coastal Re...

A district court denied summary judgment for environmental and tribal groups in a challenge to the Army Corps of Engineers' decision to issue permits under the CWA and the Rivers and Harbors Act for a project to replace sections of an oil pipeline in Minnesota. The groups argued the Corps' decision ...

A district court granted summary judgment for nonprofit groups in a challenge to an Iowa statute aimed at preventing them from recording images or videos of conditions in slaughterhouses and other animal facilities. The groups argued that the statute impermissibly restricted their First Amendment fr...

A district court granted summary judgment for an oil and gas company in a decades-long suit concerning the company's oil lease on land sacred to the Blackfeet Nation in Lewis and Clark National Forest. On the latest remand from the appellate court, the company challenged the Secretary of DOI's 2016 ...

A district court vacated two rights-of-way that BLM issued to a company in 2020 to transport water through an existing gas pipeline across federal lands. Environmental groups sought vacatur, arguing the rights-of-way violated FLPMA, NEPA, and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). BLM agreed...