The U.S. Supreme Court holds that an association's claim that a National Park Service (NPS) regulation that purports to render the Contract Disputes Act (CDA) inapplicable to concession contracts is not yet ripe for adjudication. The lower courts upheld the regulation, finding that the NPS' interpre...

The court refuses to reinstate a contempt order against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) penalizing the agency $500,000 a day if it did not comply with a separate order requiring the Corps to lower water flow levels in the Missouri River. The judicial panel on multidistrict litigation tr...

The court denies a utility reform group's petition challenging power sale contract amendments between the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and several direct service industries. In response to an energy crisis, the BPA developed a load reduction program that provided for consumer conservation, ...

The court reverses a district court decision that environmental groups failed to establish both standing and ripeness in their National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Endangered Species Act (ESA) challenges to a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rule defining the new national forest managem...

The court holds that it lacked jurisdiction over the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) decision denying environmental groups' request that the licensing of two nuclear power plants in New York be conditioned on several safety-related changes in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist att...

The D.C. Circuit granted several municipalities' petition to review an FAA order allowing Chicago to impose a $4.50 passenger facility fee to fund an EIS being prepared in connection with the modernization of O'Hare International Airport. Under the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, the FAA must find, am...

A district court granted environmental groups' motion to preliminarily enjoin the Secretary of Commerce from implementing his finding under the International Dolphin Conservation Program Act that the intentional deployment on, or encirclement of, dolphins with purse seine nets is not having a signif...

The First Circuit denied an electric company's petition for review of three Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) orders that asserted mandatory licensing authority over the company's hydroelectric project, required the company to install gauges to measure stream flow at the project, and requi...

A district court granted summary judgment against environmental groups on their claim that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to perform assessment, evaluation, and determination duties within the Jordan Resource Area in Oregon. The groups failed...

The First Circuit held that U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations that permit synthetic substances to be used in processing organic foods are contrary to the plain language of the Organic Foods Production Act. Similarly, provisions creating an exception to the Act's 12-month requirement for dai...