A New York court upheld a town's zoning amendment that bans hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) within its jurisdiction. The zoning amendment was enacted in response to a petition from town residents concerned about hydrofracking's impact on ground and surface water supplies. An energy company ...

The U.S. Supreme Court reversed a state court decision that Montana may charge rent from an electric company that owns dams on the Missouri, Madison, and Clark Fork rivers. The Montana Supreme Court held that title to the riverbeds passed to Montana when it became a state in 1889 and awarded alm...

The Eleventh Circuit held that the Federal Highway Administration (FHwA) did not violate NEPA or §4 of the DOT Act in its planning and development of a bridge project in Florida. A citizens group argued that the FHwA improperly relied on a state agency's Feasibility Study and Corridor Report wh...

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...

A California appellate court reversed a lower court decision upholding a county's adoption of an oak woodland management plan and mitigation fee program without preparing an environmental impact report (EIR) under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The county issued a negative decl...

A New York trial court held that the state environmental agency's general permit for stormwater discharges from municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4) violates the CWA and state law. By allowing discharges based on an applicant's notice of intent (NOI) to discharge, the permitting scheme c...

A district court held that the USDA's Rural Utilities Service violated NEPA by failing to prepare an EIS in connection with its involvement in the expansion of a coal-fired generating plant in Holcomb, Kansas. Because the Service provided approvals and financial support to the project, the agenc...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part the Surface Transportation Board's approval of a railroad company's applications to build a 130-mile railroad line in Southeastern Montana to haul coal. The Board prepared EISs under NEPA and included numerous mitigation measures in its approva...

A California appellate court upheld a lower court decision dismissing a petition to compel the state's parks and recreation department to ban off-highway vehicle recreation on certain leased portions of the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreational Area. It is too late to review the 1982 coastal...

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