A district court granted in part environmental groups' motion for summary judgment in a challenge to BLM's issuance of a 2018 instruction memorandum on greater sage grouse conservation and and subsequent oil and gas lease sales in Nevada and Wyoming. Environmental groups argued the lease sales confl...
The Ninth Circuit, 2-1, reversed a district court ruling that set aside a land exchange agreement between the Secretary of the Interior and an Alaska Native village company that wished to build a road through Izembek National Wildlife Refuge to allow access to a nearby city. The district court had h...
A district court denied summary judgment for landowners in Idaho who sought to halt construction of a public recreational trail across their ranch. The landowners argued the Forest Service violated the ESA by failing to complete §7 consultation with FWS; the CWA by failing to disclose the nature of...
A district court halted construction of a proposed high-voltage transmission line through the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. Environmental groups challenged FWS' original compatibility determination for the transmission line, which granted utility companies a right-of-way...
The D.C. Circuit remanded FERC orders rejecting an Oklahoma city's complaint that a hydroelectric dam overseen by the Commission caused periodic flooding. The city argued that the dam operator violated Article 5 of its license, which FERC had issued under the Federal Power Act, and sought to require...
The D.C. Circuit remanded DOE's 2020 rule that set more stringent energy efficiency standards than those of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers for commercial packaged boilers. Industry groups argued, among other things, that the Department inflated the econ...
The D.C. Circuit dismissed as moot Alaska's challenge to the Forest Service's 2001 Roadless Rule. The challenge centered on the Roadless Rule's impact on the Tongass National Forest, which the USDA exempted from the rule in 2020, but the state argued it should be allowed to proceed because the exemp...