A district court denied summary judgment for a company that owns and manages Iowa farmland in a lawsuit concerning a federal wetland conservation law known as Swampbuster. The company challenged the program, which disqualifies one from receiving USDA farm benefits if they convert certified wetl...

A district court vacated its preliminary injunction in an environmental groups' challenge to the Army Corps of Engineers' issuance of a dredge-and-fill permit for a dam expansion project in Colorado. It previously remanded with vacatur the Corps' record of decision, final EIS, and permit, enjoined f...

Tribal groups argued NMFS violated NEPA in adopting the harvest specifications because they relied on outdated EISs despite dramatic changes to the ecosystem that necessitated an updated environmental analysis. The court found the specifications were not arbitrary and capricious because NMFS conclud...

A district court granted the Army Corps of Engineers' motion to dismiss a developer's challenge to the Corps' 2012 jurisdictional determination over certain wetlands in Virginia. The developer challenged the Corps' significant nexus finding between the wetlands and the Northwest River, arguing the s...

A district court denied USDA's motion to alter judgment in a lawsuit challenging the Natural Resources Conservation Service's (NRCS') 2020 final rule concerning pre-1996 wetland certifications. An environmental group had challenged the rule, arguing it violated the APA, the ESA, and NEPA. The court ...

The U.S. Supreme Court, 5-4, denied two states' motion to enter into a consent decree in a lawsuit concerning a 1938 interstate agreement that apportions the waters of the Rio Grande River among Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. Texas initially sued Colorado and New Mexico, arguing excessive groundwa...

A district court granted DOI's motion to dismiss a lawsuit concerning tribal water rights on the Crow Reservation in Montana. Tribal members who hold property on the reservation challenged the 2010 Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act (Settlement Act), which provided benefits to the tribe in excha...

The Tenth Circuit affirmed denial of conservation groups' claims in a lawsuit concerning the Bureau of Reclamation's decision to sign a water contract allowing the state of Utah to draw from reservoir releases rather than the Green River and its tributaries. The groups argued the Bureau violated NEP...

The U.S. Supreme Court held, 5-4, that an 1868 peace treaty between the Navajo Nation and the United States establishing the Navajo Reservation reserved necessary water to accomplish the purpose of the reservation, but did not require the U.S. government to take affirmative steps to secure water for...

The Ninth Circuit, 2-1, denied a municipal irrigation district's request to compel a district court to remand to state court its motion for preliminary injunction in a suit concerning water allocation in the Klamath Basin. The district initially sought to stop the Bureau of Reclamation from releasin...