A New Jersey appellate court held that the state's Department of Environmental Protection violated the New Jersey APA when it withdrew from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) program. In 2011, the state posted a notice on the Department's website that is was withdrawing from the RGGI prog...
The Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court decision invalidating a 2003 USDA regulation that temporarily exempted Alaska's Tongass National Forest from the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. USDA clearly acknowledged that its 2003 record of decision, which excluded the Tongass from the Roadless Rul...
A district court held that fee restrictions set forth in the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (REA) do not apply to private, third-party concessionaires who operate recreation areas within the National Forests. Nonprofit groups challenged the U.S. Forest Service’s issuance of several speci...
A district court dismissed environmental groups' claims that BLM violated NEPA when it approved a plan for developing a coal bed natural gas lease in an area of Wyoming's Powder River Basin as well as amendments to the applicable resource management plan for the area. The groups claimed that BLM aba...
A district court held that environmental groups' NEPA and FLPMA claims against BLM in connection with its decision to lease two coal tracts in Wyoming's Powder River Basin lack merit. The groups alleged that BLM violated the statutes because the agency failed to adequately consider the impacts on lo...
A district court, in a memorandum opinion, dismissed environmental groups' lawsuit against the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for APA, NEPA, and ESA violations in connection with two lease sales in the area where the Deepwater Horizon spill ...
An Alaska court held that state law impliedly preempts a ballot initiative that would allow a local borough to prohibit the issuance of a permit for large-scale mines that would have a significant adverse impact on salmon-bearing waters. The court rejected the state's claim that the initiative, loca...
A district court upheld the constitutionality of a New York county's solid waste flow control ordinance that directs all solid waste generated within the county to designated publicly owned but privately operated processing facilities. Solid waste companies alleged that, by preventing non-designated...
A district court held that the CAA does not preempt landowners' state common-law tort claims against a whiskey distillery for property damage. The landowners alleged that emissions from the distillery caused "whisky fungus" to grow on their property. The distillery filed a motion to dismiss, arguing...
The Ninth Circuit held that BLM did not violate NEPA or FLPMA when it approved the expansion of a gold mine near Nevada's Mount Tenabo. Native American tribes claimed that BLM failed to address mitigation measures specific to groundwater in situ, failed to propose new mitigation measures relating to...