A district court preliminarily enjoined Iowa from enforcing a statute that criminalized undercover investigations of slaughterhouses and other animal facilities. Environmental groups argued that the state statute impermissibly restricted their free speech under the First Amendment because it was a c...

A district court denied summary judgment in a challenge to EPA's approval of Maryland's 2018 water quality report, which reclassified 139 impairment listings based on TMDLs set by the Agency for the entire Chesapeake Bay. Environmental groups argued that EPA exceeded its authority under the CWA by a...

A district court granted summary judgment to timber industry groups in a challenge to President Obama's designation of approximately 40,000 acres of federal timber land (O&C land) as part of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. The groups argued that the proclamation violated the Oregon and C...

A district court denied a neighborhood group's request to temporarily block bison hunting near Yellowstone National Park. The group argued that NPS and USDA violated NEPA when they authorized an annual bison hunt at a location on the edge of the park called Beattie Gulch, and sought a temporary rest...

A district court denied EPA's motion to dismiss a challenge to its denial of a petition to revise reporting requirements for asbestos under the Chemical Data Reporting Rule. Health and environmental groups challenged EPA's denial of their petition under TSCA and the APA, arguing that the petition wa...

The U.S. Claims Court granted in part and denied in part the U.S. government's motion for summary judgment in a challenge against FWS for rerouting spring waters that had previously flowed through church property into a restoration channel in an effort to save a native fish species. The church argue...

A district court upheld the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' approval of a permit for an already-constructed 17-mile transmission line after the D.C. Circuit found that the Corps had failed to prepare an EIS for the line in violation of NEPA. The court found that vacatur was not appropriate because rev...

A district court enjoined the expansion of an underground coal mine into a roadless area in the Gunnison National Forest. Environmental groups argued that OSM's approval of the expansion violated NEPA by failing to consider methane flaring as an alternative. The court found that OSM was required to ...

The Ninth Circuit dismissed in part, granted in part, and denied in part petitions to review EPA's 2017 Risk Evaluation Rule, which established a process for evaluating the risks of chemical substances. Environmental and health groups argued the rule violated TSCA's requirement that EPA evaluate ris...

The D.C. Circuit upheld EPA's decision to modify the criteria or lower the threshold by which the Agency determined whether to grant small refineries an exemption from the CAA's Renewable Fuel Program. An industry group argued that the increase in the number of exemptions granted in 2016 and 2017 co...