The Ninth Circuit held that BLM failed to take a "hard look" at the environmental consequences of a proposed land exchange between the agency and a mining company in violation of NEPA. The land exchange would transfer ownership of certain BLM property to a mining company, thereby allowing the compan...
The Tenth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision dismissing water districts' and other entities' claims against an Oklahoma agency and the United States in a dispute over water rights stemming from the Grand River. The plaintiffs sought a declaration regarding their interests in the Grand River wat...
The Second Circuit held that DOE's EIS concerning waste management activities at a nuclear service center near Buffalo, New York, complied with NEPA and with the terms of a 1987 settlement agreement between the agency and an environmental group. The EIS addressed only short-term, waste management ac...
The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision dismissing an Alaskan community's lawsuit against the Minerals Management Service (MMS) challenging its decision not to prepare a supplemental EIS for a proposed oil and gas lease sale on a tract of the outer continental shelf in the Beaufort Sea. MM...
A district court held that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) violated NEPA in its decision to deregulate a variety of genetically engineered sugar beets. Sugar beets are pollinated by both wind and insects, and scientists have documented that sugar beet pollen can disperse up to...
A district court held that the U.S. Forest Service's EIS addressing the land management plans for four national forests in southern California was issued in violation of NEPA and the National Forest Management Act (NFMA). The court rejected many of the plaintiffs' challenges. Nevertheless, the Fores...
The Seventh Circuit affirmed a lower court decision dismissing a citizen group's 42 U.S.C. §1983 action against state park officials for refusing to include in the park's display racks pamphlets warning of asbestos in the park. A park is a traditional public forum, and thus the park authorities...
The Ninth Circuit held that a city's mobile home rent control ordinance, which effects a transfer of nearly 90 percent of the property value from mobile home park owners to mobile home tenants, constitutes a facial regulatory taking under Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City, 438 U.S. 10...
The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court decision denying Native American tribes' motion to preliminarily enjoin BLM's approval of a large gold mining project on Mt. Tenabo, Nevada, which has religious significance for the tribes. The tribes failed to satisfy their burde...
The Second Circuit denied a petition for review challenging the NRC's decision not to reverse its 1996 EIS finding that spent fuel pools at nuclear power plants do not create a significant environmental impact within the meaning of NEPA. Because the NRC has given due consideration to the relevant st...