The U.S. Supreme Court held, 7-2, that the Forest Service had authority under the Mineral Leasing Act (MLA) to issue a special use permit that granted a right-of-way for a segment of a natural gas pipeline to be constructed beneath the Appalachian Trail in George Washington National Forest. Environm...
A district court denied partial summary judgment in a challenge to a county board's decision not to renew two conditional use permits (CUPs) for continued operation of an oil extraction and production facility in Livermore, California. The facility operator argued it had a fundamental vested right i...
The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a district court's dismissal of a suit challenging an automobile company's use of diesel-cheat devices to evade compliance with federally mandated emission standards. Two counties argued the company's installation of and modification to the dev...
The Fifth Circuit upheld EPA's decision to reject a challenge to a CAA Title V permit it issued for expansion of a plant in Baytown, Texas. Environmental groups requested that EPA reject the permit on the grounds that the underlying Title I preconstruction permit allowing the expansion was invalid. ...
The First Circuit vacated an air permit issued by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP) for a proposed natural gas compressor station that is part of a natural gas pipeline connecting the northeastern U.S. and Canada. Nearby municipalities and citizens argued that MDEP impr...