Hawai'i Electric Light Co., Inc.
The Hawaii Supreme Court affirmed the Public Utility Commission's (PUC's) decision denying an energy company's request to supply energy to Hawaii Island using a biomass power plant. The company appealed, arguing the PUC misunderstood its mandate and held it to an unfair standard. The court disagreed...
Texas v. United States Environmental Protection Agency
A district court granted Texas' and Idaho's motion to preliminarily enjoin EPA's and the Army Corps of Engineers' 2023 rule revising the definition of "waters of the United States" under the CWA. The states sought to enjoin the rule within their borders, arguing it was unconstitutional and violated ...
Cascadia Wildlands v. Bureau of Land Management
A district court denied environmental groups' motion for summary judgment in a challenge to BLM's 2020 rule that eliminated the 15-day protest process for timber sales and clarified that an authorizing officer can implement forest management decisions immediately. The groups argued BLM violated the ...
North Dakota v. United States Department of Interior
A district court granted in part and denied in part North Dakota's motion for preliminary injunction in a lawsuit concerning BLM's "pause" on nearly all quarterly lease sales of federal land in the state for oil and gas exploration in 2021 and 2022. North Dakota argued the "pause" or "cancellation" ...
Center for Environmental Health v. Regan
A district court granted EPA's motion to dismiss nonprofit groups' challenge to the Agency's response to their TSCA petition requesting comprehensive health and environmental effects testing on 54 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) manufactured by a company in North Carolina. EPA granted the...
Great Basin Resource Watch v. United States Department of the Interior
A district court granted in part and denied in part environmental groups' motion for summary judgment in a challenge to BLM's second approval of a proposed open pit mine in Nevada. The groups argued BLM failed to adequately protect federal water reserves within the mine area; violated NEPA by failin...
Commonwealth of Kentucky v. Environmental Protection Agency
A district court denied for lack of jurisdiction the Commonwealth of Kentucky's and business groups' motions to preliminarily enjoin EPA's and the Army Corps of Engineers' 2023 rule revising the definition of "waters of the United States" under the CWA. The court found that plaintiffs failed to show...
Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic v. Bureau of Land Management
A district court denied environmental groups' motions to preliminarily enjoin construction on an oil project in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve. One of the groups argued BLM violated NEPA and the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act (NPRPA) by failing to consider a reasonable range of alterna...
Los Angeles, City of v. Federal Aviation Administration
The Ninth Circuit, 2-1, granted in part and denied in part a city's petition for review of FAA's issuance of an EIS and record of decision allowing a Los Angeles airport to begin construction on a replacement terminal. The city challenged FAA's compliance with NEPA's requirement that an EIS include ...