A district court denied a request to block a permit issued by President Trump authorizing a pipeline company to construct a cross-border segment of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. Environmental groups argued the president violated the Property Clause, the Commerce Clause, and Executive Order No. 13337...

A district court invalidated three resource management plans that were approved by BLM's acting director because he was not authorized to approve them. The governor of Montana and the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation argued that the plans should be set aside because the court h...

The Ninth Circuit overturned a ruling denying EPA's motion to modify an injunction requiring it to promulgate a federal landfill emissions plan by November 6, 2019. The appellate court held that the district court abused its discretion in denying the Agency's request for relief because EPA promulgat...

A district court struck down BLM's 2016 rule promulgating new regulations to reduce natural gas waste during oil and gas production activities on federal land and Indian leases. States argued that the rule exceeded BLM's statutory authority and was otherwise arbitrary and capricious. The court found...

A district court denied mine owners' motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging they were in violation of their NPDES permit. A conservation group and the state of Washington argued that the owners had violated the terms of their permit by discharging pollutants in excess of average monthly effluent limit...

A district court denied a steel mill owner's motion to preliminarily enjoin construction of a gas pipeline in Texas. The owner argued that the Army Corps of Engineers authorized the construction in violation of the CWA, the ESA, and NEPA. The court found that the owner had not clearly demonstrated a...

A district court dismissed a challenge to FWS' designation of critical habitat for the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse. Southwestern ranchers argued that the Service underestimated the designation's economic impacts by not considering costs beyond the designation itself, in violation of the ESA. The...

A district court granted the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC's) motion to preliminarily enjoin a proposed joint venture between the United States' two largest coal producers. The Commission challenged the joint venture on antitrust grounds, arguing that it violated §7 of the Clayton Act and §5 of ...

A district court remanded to NMFS for a third time in a decades-long lawsuit concerning the Service's incidental take statement (ITS) assessing the impact of dredge fishing on loggerhead sea turtles in the Atlantic. A conservation group argued that the Service's revised ITS responding to the court's...

A district court vacated EPA's 2019 determination that found no jurisdictional waters under the CWA at a salt production complex bordering the southwestern San Francisco Bay. The Agency argued that the CWA did not apply to the complex because it was converted to salt ponds prior to the Act's passage...