The Tenth Circuit dismissed a challenge to a DOI rule governing hydraulic fracturing on federal and tribal lands, overturning a lower court ruling. In 2015, BLM finalized a fracking regulation that imposed new well construction, testing requirements, and chemical disclosure requirements, and increas...

The Tenth Circuit held that BLM's approval of coal leases in the Wyoming Powder River Basin violated NEPA. In its 2010 EIS for the leases, BLM concluded that there was no appreciable difference between the United States’ total carbon dioxide emissions under its preferred alternative and the no-act...

The Tenth Circuit held that a Wyoming law that imposed civil and criminal liability on those who cross private property to access adjacent land to collect resource data violates the First Amendment. In 2015, Wyoming enacted a pair of statutes that prohibited individuals from entering “open land fo...

The Ninth Circuit held that the FAA did not act arbitrarily when it forewent a full EIS on a third runway at the Hillsboro Airport in Hillsboro, Oregon. In 2005, the airport, the busiest in the state of Oregon, developed a plan to deal with traffic that included the addition of a third runway. Since...

The Sixth Circuit held that the Forest Service's rules regarding recreational boating on Crooked Lake in Michigan's Sylvania Wilderness exceeded the agency's power as applied to private property owners. Congress gave the Forest Service authority to regulate any use of Crooked Lake and nearby lakes �...

The D.C. Circuit held that EPA erred in how it interpreted and used the “inadequate domestic supply” waiver in the Renewable Fuel Standard law when setting low renewable fuel volumes for 2014-2016. In December 2015, EPA promulgated a rule establishing volume requirements and the resulting percen...