Regulating Biological Contamination at the Final Frontier
A robust and growing commercial space sector is moving ahead at warp speed. While the industry today primarily offers satellite and launch services, tomorrow will bring manufacturing, research and development, resource extraction, and space tourism. What do these developments mean for the earth’s biosphere, as well as for the environments of other celestial bodies finally within humanity’s reach? This is the role of planetary protection, the principle of safeguarding both terrestrial and extraterrestrial environments from humanity’s propensity for introducing pollution into any habitat.
Save Long Beach Island v. United States Department of the Interior
A district court granted the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM's) motion to dismiss a challenge to its memorandum designating certain areas in New York as "wind energy areas" for purposes of offshore wind development. A nonprofit group argued BOEM violated NEPA by failing to conduct an EA pr...
Friends of the Inyo v. U.S. Forest Service
A district court denied summary judgment for environmental groups in a challenge to the Forest Service's approval of a proposed mining exploration project on public land in the eastern Sierra Nevadas. The groups argued the Service violated NEPA by relying on two categorical exclusions—for mineral ...