The court upholds a decision of the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) that held plaintiff's mining claims within the Grand Canyon National Game Preserve to be void because the land within the preserve had been withdrawn from mineral entry. After first holding that the standard for judicial revie...

The court holds that cooperative management agreements (CMAs) entered into between the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and ranchers for the regulation of livestock grazing on public lands violate the Bureau's duties under several environmental statutes and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The...

In a suit brought by the state of New York against the United States and the Secretaries of Defense and the Air Force alleging that defendants contaminated the groundwater under a former Air Force base by leaking jet fuel and other chemicals, the court holds that is has no subject matter jurisdictio...

In a petition for attorney fees for work on a case involving paraquat spraying of marijuana on federal lands by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the court rules that the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) is a prevailing party and entitled to fees to the extent ...

The court holds that it has subject matter jurisdiction under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) citizen suit provision over a challenge to an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) refusal to release sewage construction grant funds, and that plaintiff must obtain state priority certific...

The court holds that a state administrative enforcement action that concluded in a consent order does not preclude a Clean Air Act citizen suit, but a civil enforcement action instituted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) preempts that portion of the suit concerning violations of the same ...

The court holds that the Corps of Engineers has the power under §301 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) to deny an FWPCA §404 dredge and fill permit for construction in an artificial wetland in Minnesota. The court first rules that the Corps has jurisdiction over an artificial wetl...

The court holds that the Department of Energy (DOE) wrongly denied Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) funds to Nevada to study a likely waste repository site and DOE's General Guidelines on Nuclear Waste Repository Program Grants are unlawful. Under the NWPA, a state is eligible to receive funds after ...

The court holds that owners of a hydroelectric project granted a licensing exemption in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) are not entitled to an injunction allowing operation of the project while an environmental assessment of the project is prepared. The court notes that usu...

The court holds that the Wilderness Act creates federally reserved water rights in wilderness areas, but the federal government's failure to assert those rights is not agency action unlawfully withheld under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The court first holds that plaintiff Sierra Club has...