The U.S Supreme Court held that a local ordinance that imposes a personal property tax on certain boats and vessels but contains exceptions that, in effect, largely limit its applicability to large oil tankers violates the U.S. Constitution's Tonnage Clause, Art. I, §10, cl. 3. The ordinance im...

The Sixth Circuit dismissed a miner's petition for writ of mandamus directing the Secretary of Labor to promulgate lower limits for the mount of dust and silica allowed in the air in mines. The Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 authorizes the Secretary to promulgate mandatory air quality st...

The Tenth Circuit upheld a lower court decision denying a petition for review of the U.S. Forest Service's determination not to undertake an EA of certain elk feedgrounds located on federal lands in Wyoming. Each winter the state of Wyoming feeds approximately 13,000 elk at 22 designated feedgrounds...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision setting aside the U.S. Forest Service's State Petitions Rule and reinstating the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, more commonly known as the "Roadless Rule," pending the Service's compliance with NEPA and the ESA. The State Petitions Rule, issued in ...

A district court rejected claims that the U.S. Army violated NEPA by failing to provide a supplemental analysis reflecting new alternative destruction technologies that could be used in lieu of on-site incineration at four chemical weapon incineration facilities. For the four challenged sites, the A...

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...