The court vacates a preliminary injunction enjoining a New York town from proceeding with its condemnation action against a landowner. The city sought to condemn the landowner's property as part of its redevelopment plan for the city's downtown and waterfront area. The owner argued, and a district c...

The court dismisses on ripeness grounds a conservation group's claim that the U.S. Forest Service violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by failing to carry out certain conservation programs in its management of the Medicine Bow National Forest in Wyoming. Specifically, the group argued that by a...

The Tenth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision dismissing environmental groups' claims challenging a proposed settlement agreement between Utah and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) concerning the agency's inventory, classification, and management of certain types of BLM and state trust lands. ...

The Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court order enjoining the future planting of disputed genetically engineered alfalfa seed pending the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's completion of an enivironmental impact statement. The district court applied the traditional balancing test, and no...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision that the U.S. Coast Guard (Coast Guard) did not violate appellants' First Amendment rights or the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when it established safety zones insulating a private "super ferry" in Hawaii from blockade by local protesters...

The Eighth Circuit denied a petition for review of a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) order authorizing the reconstruction of the Taum Sauk Pumped Storage Project, a hydroelectric generating plant in the Missouri Ozarks. In 2005, the upper reservoir of the project collapsed, and the opera...

The Fourth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision denying a motion to dismiss environmental groups' National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) claim against the director of the South Carolina Department of Transportation concerning the construction of a bridge. The director argued that the claims aga...

The First Circuit denied a petition for review of the Federal Aviation Agency's (FAA's) decision to reroute aircraft approaching and departing Logan Airport in Boston. Peer-reviewed noise studies showed that the impact on noise levels would not be significant. Accordingly, the FAA did not err in fin...

The Eighth Circuit upheld as moot a lower court decision denying a hunting club's motion to preliminarily enjoin a power company from constructing a 600-megawatt pulverized coal-fired power plant in Hempstead County, Arkansas, without first obtaining a prevention of significant deterioration permit ...

The Fifth Circuit held that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) was not required to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) in conjunction with its establishment of a conservation easement on city land. After FWS prepared an environmental assessment (EA) for a proposed wildlife refuge i...