Western Energy Alliance v. Biden
A district court affirmed DOI’s decision to postpone oil and gas lease sales in the first quarter of 2021 in response to the president’s issuance of Executive Order No. 14008 pausing new lease sales on federal lands. The state of Wyoming and industry groups challenged DOI’s decisions to postpo...
Gulf Restoration Network v. Haaland
The D.C. Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part summary judgment for DOI in a challenge to a supplemental EIS that BOEM prepared for two oil and gas lease sales in 2018. Three environmental groups had argued that BOEM failed to assess a true “no action” alternative because it assumed ener...
Rising Tides-Toward a Federal Climate Resilience Fund
Climate impacts in the United States disproportionately fall on low-income communities and communities of color. As the costs of climate adaptation mount, municipalities and states have brought litigation against fossil fuel companies to recover for extensive damage caused by climate change. Drawing on lessons from previous tobacco and asbestos suits, this Article argues that damages litigation—while properly heard in state courts—has significant shortcomings as an equitable climate change adaptation strategy.
Citizens for Clean Energy v. U.S. Department of the Interior
A district court reinstated a 2016 moratorium on new coal leasing on public lands that had been lifted by a DOI secretarial order in 2017. Environmental groups, states, and a Native American tribe initially filed suit challenging DOI's decision to lift the moratorium, and the court determined the de...
Massachusetts Coalition for Immigration Reform v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security
A district court granted in part and denied in part federal agencies' motion to dismiss a NEPA challenge to the Biden Administration's immigration actions. A coalition seeking immigration reform argued that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of State, and DOJ failed to follow ...
Hoboken v. Chevron Corp.
The Third Circuit affirmed two district courts' orders remanding back to start court two climate liability suits bought against oil companies. Delaware and the city of Hoboken sued the companies in state court for state-law torts. The companies removed the suits to federal court, arguing removal was...
Oglala Sioux Tribe v. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The D.C. Circuit denied a Native American tribe's petition to review NRC's decision to grant a source material license for uranium extraction from ore beds in South Dakota. The tribe initially raised challenges to the license application and NRC's NEPA and National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) p...
Western Organization of Resource Councils v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management
A district court granted summary judgment for environmental groups in a challenge to two BLM resource management plans for coal leasing in Montana and Wyoming. The groups argued BLM violated NEPA by failing to consider a reasonable range of alternatives and failing to consider the downstream impacts...