The D.C. Circuit upheld the National Park Service's (NPS') deer management plan for Rock Creek National Park in Washington, DC. The plan involves the killing of white-tailed deer to reduce the herd to an ecologically sustainable level. An animal rights group argued that NPS failed to comply with the...

A California court held that federal mining law preempts a state law that effectively bans the use of any vacuum or suction dredge mining in streams and rivers on federal lands. Under Cal. Fish & Game Code §5653, the use of any vacuum or suction dredge equipment by any person in any river strea...

A district court held that environmental groups lack standing to challenge the U.S. Export-Import Bank's approval of a $90 million loan guarantee that supports a three-year, $100 million loan from a private bank to a coal exporter. The groups argued that the Bank's guarantee, which allows the coal c...

A district court, in a 199-page opinion, struck down a local county ordinance banning oil-and-gas drilling, including hydraulic fracturing, within Mora County, New Mexico. Portions of the ordinance essentially provide that corporations have no federal constitutional rights. For example, the ordinanc...

A Washington appellate court upheld a state agency's decision to issue a hydraulic mining permit to an individual on the condition that he limit his suction dredging operations within a specified two-week work period. The individual engages in "placer" mining—searching for gold that has moved away...

The Court of Federal Claims held that a company that funded construction of an open-loop biomass facility to provide steam for a chicken rendering plant's electricity needs is entitled to reimbursement costs under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARAR), but only for costs associated with ...