The Fourth Circuit affirmed dismissal of a challenge to CEQ's 2020 final rule that affected how federal agencies conduct reviews under NEPA. Environmental groups filed suit shortly after the rule was promulgated and several weeks before it took effect, bringing nine APA claims and one allegation tha...

A district court vacated in part the Forest Service's 2017 record of decision (ROD) that closed approximately 196,000 acres of recommended wilderness areas in Clearwater National Forest to motorized vehicles and eliminated motorized use on 38 miles of existing trails. An environmental group had chal...

A district court ordered a pipeline company and Native American tribe to submit a joint proposal on how to prevent a "catastrophic rupture" of a crude oil and natural gas pipeline running through the tribe's reservation in northern Wisconsin. The tribe initially brought public nuisance and trespass ...

A district court held that hundreds of Louisiana residents seeking damages in a mass tort action concerning landfill emissions in Jefferson Parish established general causation. The court found the residents proved by a preponderance of the evidence that gases and odors were emitted from the landfil...

A district court granted summary judgment for NMFS in a challenge to a 2019 rule requiring turtle excluder devices on skimmer trawl vessels greater than 40 feet in length in inshore waters. The final rule was published on December 20, 2019, with an effective date of April 1, 2021, but NMFS issued a ...

A district court granted bottling companies' motion to dismiss a deceptive marketing challenge to their "100% recyclable" labels. Consumers and an environmental group argued the labels were false and misleading because most plastic bottles are not recycled. The companies moved to dismiss for lack of...

A district court granted DOD's motion to dismiss a challenge to its decision to halt fence construction along the U.S.-Mexico border in response to President Biden's proclamation declaring an end to the national border emergency. A corporation that owns land adjacent to the fence argued that DOD's d...

A district court granted the District of Columbia's motion to remand to state court a consumer protection lawsuit against energy companies. The District sued in state court, arguing the companies knowingly misrepresented the effects of fossil fuel products to consumers through misleading advertiseme...