The Montana Supreme Court upheld the state oil and gas board's issuance of 23 gas well permits to an oil company in the area known as the Cedar Creek Anticline, a major geologic feature that extends for nearly 120 miles and is home to various animal species, most notably the sage grouse. Environment...

The Ninth Circuit reversed in part and affirmed in part a lower court decision that U.S. Forest Service complied with NEPA and the APA when it amended the Sierra Nevada forest plan in 2004. In stark contrast to the 2001 EIS, which contained a 64-page detailed analysis of the environmental conseq...

The Fifth Circuit upheld EPA's decision to disapprove certain revisions to Texas' SIP. EPA disapproved the revisions concerning the state's "qualified facilities program" because it did not meet the minor new source review (NSR) SIP nor did it meet the NSR SIP requirement for a substitute major ...

The Fourth Circuit held that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer violated NEPA when it issued a CWA §404 permit allowing a developer to build a mooring facility and boat ramp 3,000 feet from the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The Corps' EA, issued contemporaneously w...

The D.C. Circuit vacated an interim final rule issued by EPA that would allow manufacturers of heavy-duty diesel engines to pay nonconformance penalties in exchange for the right to sell engines that fail to satisfy nitrogen oxide requirements. In 2001, EPA issued a rule requiring a 95% reduction in...