The Tenth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision dismissing environmental groups' case challenging decisions made by BLM and the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) concerning the legality of 39 oil and gas leases in southern Utah. In the 1980s, the owner of the leases applied to have its oil and...

A district court dismissed a landowner's trespass claim against an energy company for waste stemming from natural gas drilling operations on the property. The company owns the mineral rights underlying the land. As part of its drilling operations, the company deposited drilling waste and other mater...

A Texas appellate court held that sovereign immunity bars an individual's lawsuit against the board members of a local reclamation district claiming that their activities caused a lake to be substantially drained during 2008 and for most of the years 2009 through 2011. As a governmental agency and p...

The Tenth Circuit dismissed as moot an environmental group's CAA citizen suit against an energy company for building a new coal-fired power plant in Pueblo, Colorado, without a valid construction permit. Although the project initially complied with all applicable federal and state laws when construc...

A district court held that EPA overstepped its statutory authority under the CWA and SMCRA when it issued guidance on Appalachian surface coal mining permits. EPA argued that the guidance was not final agency action and, thus, not subject to judicial review. But the court disagreed, holding that the...

A district court dismissed environmental groups' lawsuits challenging BLM's decision to authorize the leasing of certain public lands in northeastern Wyoming for coal mining operations. The groups, who claim that BLM failed to prepare an adequate EIS before authorizing the leasing of the tracts at i...