Sawtooth Mountain Ranch LLC v. United States Forest Service
A magistrate judge declined to preliminarily enjoin the U.S. Forest Service from constructing a recreational trail across private property located in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. The property owners argued the Service's decision to proceed via a categorical exclusion was in violation of NE...
Birckhead v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
The D.C. Circuit denied a petition to review FERC's decision authorizing the construction and operation of a new natural gas compression facility in Tennessee. Landowners and business owners argued that FERC violated NEPA by failing to adequately evaluate alternatives to the facility. The court disa...
National Parks Conservation Ass'n v. Semonite
The D.C. Circuit granted in part the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' and a power company's request to reconsider a prior court order that vacated a permit for a 17-mile transmission line after finding the Corps failed to prepare an EIS for the line in violation of NEPA. The Corps and power company arg...
Western Watersheds Project v. Bernhardt
A district court issued a temporary restraining order forbidding BLM from permitting a ranching company to use two grazing allotments that had been authorized by the Secretary of the Interior in response to a presidential pardon of the company's prior criminal convictions. Environmental groups argue...
Applications for a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed NorthMet Project
In an unpublished opinion, a state appellate court upheld the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' decision denying a request for the preparation of a supplemental EIS for a proposed copper-nickel-platinum group elements mine. Environmental groups challenged the Department's determination that...
Friends of the Wild Swan v. Kehr
In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit affirmed a summary judgment for the U.S. Forest Service in a challenge to its proposed logging project in Flathead National Forest. Environmental groups argued that the Service violated the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) and NEPA by failing to ensu...