A district court denied the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's (PHMSA's) motion to dismiss a challenge to the agency's pipeline inspection regulations. An environmental group argued that PHMSA's existing regulations did not encompass all oil and gas pipelines that crossed feder...

A state high court affirmed a lower court denial of landowners' and an environmental group's petition to review a decision by the Iowa Utilities Board authorizing a company to use eminent domain to build a crude oil pipeline. The landowners and group argued the pipeline did not serve the "public con...

A district court granted environmental groups' motion to set aside FEMA's biological evaluation to determine whether proposed revisions to the National Flood Insurance Program would affect species and habitats protected under the ESA. The groups argued that FEMA wrongfully failed to consider effects...

The Tenth Circuit affirmed a judgment dismissing a challenge to a U.S. Forest Service decision allowing Utah's Division of Wildlife Resources to release mountain goats on state lands adjacent to the Manti-La Sal National Forest. A conservation group argued that the Service—knowing the Division's p...

A California jury awarded over $2 billion in compensatory and punitive damages to two residents who claimed that the weedkiller Roundup caused their non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The jury found that the weedkiller's manufacturer was aware of the risks associated with its product and negligently failed to ad...

In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit affirmed a summary judgment for the U.S. Forest Service in a challenge to its proposed logging project in Flathead National Forest. Environmental groups argued that the Service violated the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) and NEPA by failing to ensu...

A state appellate court reversed a lower court ruling that struck down a county ordinance banning the use of certain pesticides for cosmetic purposes throughout the county. The lower court concluded the ordinance was preempted by state law, which allowed the sale of pesticides and the use of it on f...

The D.C. Circuit granted in part and denied in part an environmental group's petition to review EPA's 2017 Inventory Rule that imposed new reporting requirements under TSCA for chemical manufacturers and processors. The group argued that the rule failed to require companies to substantiate that a ch...

The Tenth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a district court ruling that upheld BLM's approval of oil and gas wells in the Mancos Shale area of the San Juan Basin in northeastern New Mexico. Environmental groups argued that the agency violated the National Historic Preservation Act by fa...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and vacated in part a district court's judgment upholding BLM's and the Interior Board of Land Appeals' decisions concerning recreation and travel management plans for motorized vehicle use in the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area in southe...