The court upholds the conviction of three individuals that organized a 20,000-person event in the Allegheny National Forest without obtaining a special permit in violation of U.S. Forest Service (the Service) regulations. The court first holds that the regulations are not unconstitutionally vague be...

The court affirms a district court holding that the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) breached its fiduciary duties to Individual Indian Money (IIM) trust account beneficiaries and, therefore, must conduct an accurate accounting. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 returned to tribal ownership...

The court enjoins the U.S. Forest Service from implementing all aspects of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which prohibits construction of roads on presently roadless areas in the national forests. The court first holds that the federal government has committed to amendments to its environmenta...

The court denies environmental groups' petitions to review the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC's) decision not to bring an enforcement action against a city for violating the terms of an operating license for a hydroelectric project on the Cowlitz River in Washington. In 1967, the city ...

The court holds that an electric utility company that was a 70% owner of a nuclear power plant in Iowa can deduct 15 years' worth of Energy Policy Act (EPACT) assessments in the tax year that the liability was determined. In 1992, Congress enacted the EPACT, which established a fund for the decontam...

The court holds that the Secretary of Commerce abused his discretion and acted in contrivance of the law when he issued a finding that triggered a change in the dolphin-safe label standard for tuna sold in the United States. Through the International Dolphin Conservation Program Act (IDCPA), Congres...

The D.C. Circuit reversed and remanded a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) order allowing states to regulate the reimbursement of "headwater benefits" from downstream hydropower plants to upstream dam operators. To enable upstream firms to recoup part of the cost of conferring headwater be...

The D.C. Circuit upheld a final order issued by the Department of the Interior (DOI) requiring an energy company to retroactively recalculate royalties owed to the U.S. government under its lease to extract coalbed methane from federal land in Wyoming. In its disputed order, DOI held that the market...

The D.C. Circuit denied a petition to review the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC's) interpretation of the term "markets" as used in an amendment to the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act that created exceptions to a utility's mandatory purchase obligation to buy energy from qualifyi...

The U.S. Supreme Court held that the Tariff Act's antidumping duties on foreign merchandise sold in the United States at less than its fair value apply to imports of low enriched uranium obtained by domestic utilities in return for cash and unenriched uranium delivered to a foreign enricher. Section...