Birckhead v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
The D.C. Circuit denied a petition to review FERC's decision authorizing the construction and operation of a new natural gas compression facility in Tennessee. Landowners and business owners argued that FERC violated NEPA by failing to adequately evaluate alternatives to the facility. The court disa...
National Parks Conservation Ass'n v. Semonite
The D.C. Circuit granted in part the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' and a power company's request to reconsider a prior court order that vacated a permit for a 17-mile transmission line after finding the Corps failed to prepare an EIS for the line in violation of NEPA. The Corps and power company arg...
Applications for a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed NorthMet Project
In an unpublished opinion, a state appellate court upheld the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' decision denying a request for the preparation of a supplemental EIS for a proposed copper-nickel-platinum group elements mine. Environmental groups challenged the Department's determination that...
Wildearth Guardians v. Chao
A district court denied the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's (PHMSA's) motion to dismiss a challenge to the agency's pipeline inspection regulations. An environmental group argued that PHMSA's existing regulations did not encompass all oil and gas pipelines that crossed feder...
Ecological Rights Foundation v. Federal Emergency Management Agency
A district court granted environmental groups' motion to set aside FEMA's biological evaluation to determine whether proposed revisions to the National Flood Insurance Program would affect species and habitats protected under the ESA. The groups argued that FEMA wrongfully failed to consider effects...
Utah Native Plant Society v. United States Forest Service
The Tenth Circuit affirmed a judgment dismissing a challenge to a U.S. Forest Service decision allowing Utah's Division of Wildlife Resources to release mountain goats on state lands adjacent to the Manti-La Sal National Forest. A conservation group argued that the Service—knowing the Division's p...