A district court vacated BLM's 2018 instruction memorandum (IM) and oil and gas lease sales in Montana and Wyoming issued in reliance on the IM for failing to maintain federal protections for the greater sage-grouse. Environmental groups challenged the IM and lease sales, arguing that they violated ...

A district court denied a request to vacate the Trump Administration's decision to lift the Obama Administration's moratorium on new coal leasing on public lands. Environmental groups, tribes, and states argued that BLM's issuance of a final EA and FONSI were insufficient to meet the court's previou...

A district court granted summary judgment for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in a challenge to its proposal to dredge a portion of a harbor located in the Lower St. Johns River. An environmental group argued that the Corps violated NEPA by failing to analyze the present effects of past dredging ac...

A district court granted summary judgment for the U.S. Forest Service in a challenge to its approval of a tree-thinning and fire mitigation project in the Los Padres National Forest. Conservation groups and nearby residents argued the Service's decision to authorize the project with a categorical ex...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and vacated in part summary judgment for DOI in a challenge to its issuance of secretarial procedures authorizing a Native American tribe to operate a hotel and casino in Madera, California. Nonprofit groups argued that issuance of the procedures violated NEPA and ...

In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and dismissed in part a challenge to the Forest Service's decision to authorize logging in Idaho's Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests. Environmental groups argued the decision violated the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) and the ...

The Eleventh Circuit vacated and remanded the U.S. Tax Court's decision disallowing a charitable deduction for a conservation easement over property that included a private golf course and undeveloped land. The appellate court found that the Internal Revenue Code did not disqualify an easement simpl...

A district court vacated 287 oil and gas leases that BLM issued on 145,000 acres of federal land in Montana. Environmental groups argued that the agency violated NEPA by failing to consider the leases' impacts on groundwater from shallow fracturing and surface casing depth. The court found that the ...

A district court vacated an EA and FONSI issued by the Forest Service approving a mining company to explore for gold on public lands near the Idaho-Montana border. Environmental groups previously argued before the court that the Forest Service failed to take a hard look at the impacts on groundwater...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the Forest Service in a challenge to its issuance of grazing authorizations on allotments in the Malheur National Forest. Environmental groups argued that the Service violated the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) when it failed to "analyze and sho...