A district court preliminarily enjoined the Bureau of Reclamation from expanding water export operations in California's Central Valley based on biological opinions (BiOps) adopted by NMFS and FWS in 2019. California and environmental groups argued that NMFS violated the APA by concluding that expan...
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 ordered the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environment Affairs (MEOEEA) to seek an incidental take permit pursuant to the ESA before issuing licenses that allow fishermen to use vertical buoy ropes (VBRs) in Massachusetts coastal waters. A citizen argued that VBRs harm...
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 DOD in a challenge to construction and operation of a new aircraft base in Okinawa, Japan, and its potential adverse effects on the endangered Okinawa dugong. Individuals and environmental groups argued that DOD failed to take into account the adverse ...
A district court granted summary judgment to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in a challenge to the agency's decision to hold oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico. Environmental groups argued that BOEM failed to evaluate a "true" no-action alternative in its EIS by assuming that...
Heralded in 1970 as the nation’s environmental Magna Carta, the National Environmental Policy Act’s (NEPA’s) luster seems faded and its future uncertain. While Trump Administration initiatives threaten to diminish further and perhaps even dismantle aspects of NEPA, this Article chronicles how the current assault merely continues NEPA’s unfortunate trajectory, examining how the courts, the U.S. Congress, and the executive branch each have whittled away at the Act. NEPA consequently sits at a critical juncture: it could soon fade away or it could hew back toward its original promise.
A district court vacated a nationwide permit reissued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that allowed for construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline across waterways. Environmental groups argued the reissuance violated the ESA by failing to initiate programmatic consultation. The court found that dec...
A district court held that NMFS violated the ESA by approving a U.S. lobster fishery without adequately considering the fishery's impact on the endangered North Atlantic right whale. Conservation groups argued the agency violated the ESA by failing to include an incidental take statement (ITS) in it...