Granting Presumption of Service Connection for PFAS Exposure in Veterans
PFAS exposure is emerging as a disability that veterans want covered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). With claims relating to environmental exposure, it is often difficult to prove the disability is a result of service and not something else. However, there is another way to get service-connected disability coverage as a veteran: presumption of service connection.
Cascadia Wildlands v. Adcock
A district court granted environmental groups' motion for summary judgment in a challenge to BLM's approval of a commercial logging project on federal land in Oregon. The groups argued BLM violated NEPA by failing to take a "hard look" at the environmental impacts and failing to prepare an EIS. The ...
WildEarth Guardians v. United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Wildlife Services
The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and vacated in part summary judgment for USDA's Wildlife Services in a challenge to the authorization of a predator damage and conflict management program in Nevada wilderness areas. Environmental groups argued the program violated the Wilderness Act because p...
Sierra Club v. United States Department of Energy
The D.C. Circuit denied environmental groups' petitions to review DOE's authorization of a project to export from Alaska to non-free trade countries up to 20 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per annum for 30 years. The groups argued DOE misconceived the "public interest" and failed...
Cascadia Wildlands v. Adcock
A district court granted in part and denied in part summary judgment for an environmental group in a challenge to a BLM tree thinning and harvesting project in Oregon. The group argued BLM should have prepared an EIS and failed to take a "hard look" at effects on recovery and survival of the no...
Healthy Gulf v. Burgum
A district court granted in part and denied in part summary judgment for environmental groups in a challenge to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM's) approval of a 2023 offshore oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico. The groups argued BOEM's assessment of greenhouse gas emissions, ...
Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend v. United States Army Corps of Engineers
The Fifth Circuit affirmed denial of summary judgment for two Native American tribes and an environmental group in a challenge to a CWA §404 permit issued by the Army Corps of Engineers to expand operations at an oil export terminal on Texas' Gulf Coast. The tribes and group sought to invalidate th...
Healthy Gulf v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
The D.C. Circuit denied environmental groups' challenge to FERC's authorization of a project to build two new natural gas pipelines in southwestern Louisiana. The groups argued FERC violated NEPA by failing to consider the project's effects on upstream greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, failing to dete...