The Tenth Circuit dismissed an appeal brought by energy companies arguing that §266(b)(1)(A) of the Mineral Leasing Act requires BLM to issue oil and gas leases within 60 days of payment. The energy companies were the highest bidders on 118 pending leases, and because more than 60 days had passed s...

Maine's highest court vacated a state permit authorizing the construction of a wind turbine project on Saddleback Mountain. Twenty-one days before the state environmental agency approved the permit, the state's environmental board adopted an amendment that, among other changes, lowered the nighttime...

An Iowa appellate court affirmed the dismissal of a minor's petition asking the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to adopt new rules regarding the emission of greenhouse gases in the state. She first argued that the state agency acted unreasonably in denying the proposed rule because Iowa's Inali...

The Eleventh Circuit vacated EPA's 2011 disapproval of Alabama SIP provisions on opacity, thereby reinstating EPA's 2008 approval of opacity limits. EPA's 2011 disapproval was unauthorized by the CAA because EPA failed to make the statutorily required error determination. Neither the text of the fin...

The Fifth Circuit held that Transocean's primary and excess-liability insurers must cover BP's pollution-related liabilities deriving from April 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Under Texas law, the umbrella insurance policy—not the indemnity provisions of Transocean's and BP's contract—con...