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...

The D.C. Circuit dismissed an environmental group's petition to review FERC's order granting a certificate to a pipeline company to construct and operate compression facilities for one of its projects. The group argued that FERC was required under NEPA to include an evaluation of upstream and downst...

The Iowa Supreme Court affirmed a lower court ruling that upheld the Iowa Utilities Board's approval of a 170-turbine wind project in northwest Iowa. Landowners argued that the project was located at a "single site" and thus should have required a certificate of public convenience, use, and necessit...

A district court granted in part summary judgment against EPA for failure to implement its 2016 Emission Guidelines and Compliance Times for Municipal Solid Waste Landfills. Eight states argued that the Agency failed to implement and enforce the guidelines by (1) failing to approve or disapprove exi...

A state court reversed the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation's approval of a water use permit for a proposed silver-copper mine in Montana's Cabinet Mountains. An environmental group argued that the Department ignored data in the mining company's permit application indicating ...

A district court denied an environmental group's motion for summary judgment in a challenge to NMFS' approval of a fishery management plan amendment that opened up a portion of the western Gulf of Maine to commercial and recreational fishing. The group argued that NMFS wrongly concluded that the ame...

The Ninth Circuit reversed a dismissal of a lawsuit brought by conservation groups to enjoin USDA from killing gray wolves in Idaho pending additional NEPA analysis. The groups argued before the district court that the agency violated NEPA by failing to prepare an EIS on its wolf management activiti...

A district court stayed a constitutional challenge to the Washington Department of Ecology's decision to deny a coal company a CWA §401 certification for construction of a coal export facility along the Columbia River. The company argued that the Department violated the Commerce Clause by denying t...

A district court denied an offshore drilling platform operator's motion to reconsider the court's previous ruling that barred the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) from issuing offshore drilling permits until it conducted further environmental review. Conservation groups had argued that BOEM'...