The court holds that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC's) decision to approve a city's application to amend a hydroelectric power license did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or the Federal Power Act (FPA). The application proposed the running of a 9.6-mile pow...

The court holds unripe for review the Interior Board of Land Appeals' (IBLA's) ruling that the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) lacks jurisdiction to order a mining company to reduce acid mine drainage seeping from a mining operation in West Virginia. The IBLA ruled that th...

The court holds that the doctrine of sovereign immunity bars citizens from bringing suit against West Virginia state officials in federal court to enjoin the state from granting mountaintop mining permits. Citizens brought suit against the state officials alleging that in granting mountaintop coal m...

The court holds that the Eleventh Amendment bars all but two claims brought by citizen groups in federal court against a state official accused of failing to implement, administer, enforce, and maintain a federally approved state coal mining program under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation A...

The court holds that the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) §1272(e) prohibits subsidence and underground mining activities that might lead to subsidence in parks and protected areas. The Secretary of the Interior interpreted §1272(e), which prohibits surface coal mining operations...

The court upholds Department of the Interior (DOI) regulations allowing state agencies that administer federally approved programs under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) to terminate their jurisdiction over reclaimed sites of completed surface mining and reclamation operations ...

The court holds that the district court erred in holding that environmental groups lack standing in their Federal Water Pollution Control Act citizen suit challenging the Department of Energy's (DOE's) proposed reopening of a nuclear reactor at the Savannah River site in South Carolina. The reactor ...

The court denies a suggestion for rehearing en banc of its prior decision in Natural Resources Defense Council v. Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, 22 ELR 21381, which held that the Board's regulation allowing it to close meetings, or portions of meetings, concerning its recommendations relat...

The court holds that the Federal Power Act (FPA) preempts state regulation of a federally licensed hydroelectric power project in a national forest in California. The court first holds that the action is ripe for review even though plaintiff dam operator has not completed the state permitting proces...

The court affirms the dismissal of a domestic utility company's allegation that the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPACT) unconstitutionally imposed monetary assessments on domestic utilities for the remediation of environmentally contaminated U.S. uranium processing facilities. Beginning in the 1960s, ...