The Ninth Circuit denied community groups' petition for review challenging EPA's approval of revisions to California's SIP concerning air emissions from pesticides, known as the "pesticide element." The revisions related to the reduction of volatile organic compounds in the San Joaquin and Ventura a...
A district court adopted a magistrate judge's report and recommendation and ordered FWS to finalize and approve a comprehensive conservation plan for five national wildlife refuges in the Klamath Basin Complex on or before August 1, 2016. FWS conceded, and the court had already ordered, that FWS vio...
A district court held that trade associations and nonprofit corporations representing members of the timber industry lack standing to challenge the Forest Service's 2012 planning rule governing development of individual land and resource management plans for the 155 national forests and 20 national ...
The Ninth Circuit upheld BLM's resource management plan (RMP) and EIS for five allotments within the 1.3 million acres of land administered by BLM in Southwestern Arizona and Southeastern California. Environmental groups that wanted to reduce the amount of livestock grazing allowed on the lands chal...
The D.C. Circuit reversed and vacated a portion of a January 2013 rule in which EPA revised the NESHAPs and new source performance standards for backup generators. Specifically, the court held that EPA acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it modified the NESHAPs and NSPS to allow backup generator...
The D.C. Circuit dismissed petitions challenging EPA's and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA's) coordinated rules governing the greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy of cars and trucks. One group of petitioners—businesses, associations, and individuals located in Cali...
A district court upheld a U.S. Forest Service decision allowing a uranium mine to renew operations near the Grand Canyon National Park. In January 2012, DOI withdrew approximately 633,547 acres of public lands and 360,002 acres of National Forest System lands for up to 20 years from location and ent...
The D.C. Circuit, in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA, No. 12-1146, 44 ELR 20132 (2014), amended a prior decision in which it upheld four EPA rulemakings governing greenhouse gases (GHGs). The four rules are: (1) EPA's endangerment finding, in which i...