The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision that BLM complied with NEPA and FLPMA in allowing the construction of a utility-scale wind project in California's Sonoran Desert. BLM sufficiently evaluated and disclosed the environmental impacts of the wind energy facility project under NEPA. Envi...

A district court dismissed several claims a group of cattle ranchers filed against USDA and DOI concerning actions taken to protect the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse, an endangered species. Following the listing of the species in 2014, the U.S. Forest Service proposed to erect a five-foot pipe fen...

The Sixth Circuit held that the CAA does not preempt property owners' state common law tort claims against a nearby power plant for allowing ash, dust, and coal combustion by-products to blow onto their properties. The owners brought RCRA and CAA claims against the power plant in addition to their s...

The Sixth Circuit held that the CAA does not preempt property owners' state common-law tort claims against a whiskey distillery for excess ethanol emissions that allegedly caused "whiskey fungus" to grow on their properties. Below, the district court rejected the distillery's argument that the CAA p...

The D.C. Circuit upheld EPA's designation of Yellowstone County, Montana, and Wayne County, Michigan, as "nonattainment" under the sulfur dioxide (SO2) NAAQS. Two petitioners—an industry association and a steel company—challenged the designations, albeit for different reasons. The industry assoc...