The court held that a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) incidental take statement authorizing the taking of all northern spotted owls associated with certain proposed timber harvests in the Pacific Northwest is invalid. As a result of a prior court opinion, the FWS voluntarily reinitiated consult...

The Ninth Circuit held that yellowfin tuna caught by encircling dolphins with purse-seine nets may not be labeled "dolphin-safe." Environmental groups challenged the Secretary of Commerce's finding that tuna caught with purse-seine nets does not have an adverse impact on dolphin populations. But the...

The Ninth Circuit vacated a lower court decision granting in part and denying in part cross-motions for summary judgment in a case concerning the validity of the federal government's policy for listing killer whales under the Endangered Species Act. Since the lower court issued its decision, the Nat...

A district court held that the DOE's March 2003 decision regarding the remediation of Area IV of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Simi Valley, California, violated NPA. DOE's decision to issue a FONSI rather than prepare an EIS was a clear error of judgment. The remediation is not categorically ...

The D.C. Circuit set aside an FAA letter that changed the runway use procedures at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Petitioners argued that the new procedures will route more jet aircraft onto two previously restricted runways, thereby increasing noise, soot, and exhaust fumes over r...

A district court held that National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-Fisheries (NOAA-Fisheries) did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when it chose not to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) or environmental assessment for its Hatchery Listing Policy (HLP) fo...

A court an amendment to a county zoning regulation that prohibits the siting of liquefied natural gas facilities in the Chesapeake Bay Critical Areas of Baltimore County, Maryland. The amendment is not preempted by the Natural Gas Act and is within the delegated authority of the state of Maryland an...

A district court held that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when it prepared an environmental assessment (EA) in lieu of an environmental impact statement for proposed levee work along the Missouri River. The EA failed to properly consider the cu...

The Eighth Circuit reversed and remanded a lower court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the U.S. Department of Transportation on a city's claims that the agency insufficiently considered the economic and environmental impact of a sound wall in violation of the National Environmental Policy Ac...

A district court held that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' (the Corps') final supplemental environmental impact statement (FSEIS), designed to avoid jeopardy to the endangered Cape Sable seaside sparrow in the Everglades National Park in connection with a water and flood control project in souther...