Voigt v. Coyote Creek Mining Co., LLC
The Eighth Circuit affirmed, 2-1, a ruling in favor of a mining company in a challenge to the company's failure to obtain a CAA construction permit for a mine in rural North Dakota. The owners of an adjacent ranch argued that the company failed to obtain the proper permit under the CAA and failed to...
Alaska v. Bernhardt
A district court granted in part summary judgment for DOI in a challenge to a 2016 FWS rule that prohibited certain hunting activities in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. The state of Alaska and a hunting group first challenged the Service's determination that the rule fell within a categorical e...
Ergon-West Virginia, Inc. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency
The Fourth Circuit granted for a second time an oil refinery's petition to review EPA's decision denying the refinery an exemption from biofuel requirements under the Agency's renewable fuel standard program, and vacated the Agency's decision. The refinery argued that EPA arbitrarily relied on DOE's...
Alliance for the Wild Rockies v. Burman
A district court dismissed a challenge to the Bureau of Reclamation's alleged ongoing, unpermitted take of bull trout through operation of an irrigation project near Glacier National Park. An environmental group argued that the Bureau's water control and delivery structures in the St. Mary River dra...
Institute for Fisheries Resources v. United States Food and Drug Administration
A district court granted in part and denied in part advocacy and industry groups' motion for summary judgment in a challenge to FDA's decision to allow a company to create and farm genetically engineered salmon. The groups argued that FDA violated NEPA by failing to take a sufficiently "hard look" a...