The Court of Federal Claims held that the U.S. government was not liable for the flooding of homes near two dams managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Houston during Hurricane Harvey. Property owners downstream of the dams argued that the government flooded their lands by opening the dams' ...

The D.C. Circuit dismissed a Native American tribe's petition to review a FERC order denying the tribe's motion to intervene in the Commission's proceeding over construction of a natural gas pipeline in Massachusetts. The tribe argued that, in authorizing construction of a pipeline across land that ...

A district court dismissed a lawsuit challenging two protocol agreements entered into by Native American tribes and the Bureau of Indian Affairs that established procedures for enforcement of the tribes' water rights in the Upper Klamath Basin. A group of ranchers and landowners argued that the agre...

The Second Circuit affirmed denial of a challenge to NPS' approval of a white-tailed deer management plan for the Fire Island National Seashore. An animal rights group argued that NPS violated NEPA because it lacked information about deer movement on the island that was essential to the decisionmaki...

A district court held that FWS' decision to list the northern long-eared bat as threatened rather than endangered under the ESA was arbitrary and capricious. Environmental groups argued that the rationale FWS relied on to reach its decision—that the species had not yet suffered declines and appear...

The Tenth Circuit vacated EPA orders that granted extensions of exemptions under the CAA's renewable fuels program for three small refineries. Industry groups challenged the orders, arguing that EPA failed to honor the statutory requirement of an "extension" by confusing an extension of an exemption...

The Seventh Circuit affirmed dismissal of a challenge to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's approval of a CWA §404 permit for a proposed mine along the Menominee River. A Native American tribe argued that EPA and the Corps should have exercised authority over the permit because circ...

A state appellate court reversed the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' decisions to deny petitions for a contested-case hearing and issue mine and dam safety permits for a proposed copper-nickel-platinum mine in northeastern Minnesota. Environmental groups petitioned the Department for a he...

The Washington Supreme Court invalidated a rule promulgated by the state's Department of Ecology authorizing regulation via emission standards of businesses that do not directly emit greenhouse gases (GHGs), but whose products do. Industry groups and utility companies argued the Department lacked au...

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court vacated a lower court ruling that found an energy developer trespassed on neighboring landowners' property by extracting natural gas from their property by way of hydraulic fracturing without permission. The developer argued that the extraction did not amount to trespa...