A district court granted summary judgment for EPA in a FOIA lawsuit brought by a nonprofit group. The group requested a 2018 draft version of the Agency's Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) formaldehyde assessment. EPA withheld the assessment under the deliberative process privilege, and the ...
A district court dismissed two Pennsylvania state senators' challenge to the Delaware River Basin Commission's imposition of a moratorium on gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing in the Delaware Basin. The senators argued, among other things, that the moratorium exceeded the Commission's authority. ...
The Fourth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for a county in South Carolina in a lawsuit concerning the county's alleged taking of honey sellers' bees. The sellers argued their bees died after the county sprayed pesticide in an effort to kill mosquitoes, and thus constituted a Fifth Amendment taking...
A district court denied nonprofit groups' motion for summary judgment in a challenge to EPA's failure to consult with FWS and NMFS before announcing a temporary nonenforcement policy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the policy having since been terminated, the groups sought to compel EPA t...
A district court overrode the Biden Administration's objections to a lawsuit challenging President Trump's issuance of a presidential permit in 2019 for construction of a cross-border segment of the Keystone XL pipeline. Environmental groups argued the former president violated the Property Clause, ...
A district court denied plaintiffs' motion to preliminarily enjoin the city of Chicago from issuing any permits or approvals in connection with the relocation of a recycling facility from the north side to the southeast side of the city. Plaintiffs argued the city's relocation of the facility was di...
A district court denied the National Park Service's (NPS') motion to dismiss a challenge to its issuance of a policy memorandum concerning the use of electric-assisted bicycles (e-bikes) in national parks. Environmental groups argued the memorandum amended existing NPS regulations on bicycle use by ...
A district court granted summary judgment for a nonprofit group in a lawsuit seeking FOIA disclosure of records maintained by FWS regarding the import and export of wildlife. The group challenged the Service's redaction of certain information pursuant to a FOIA exemption for trade secrets and commer...
A district court denied motions for summary judgment in a lawsuit seeking FOIA disclosure of records regarding an order issued by the Secretary of the Interior concerning the federal coal program. An environmental group argued that DOI failed to conduct an adequate search for responsive records, fai...
The Fifth Circuit upheld a rule issued by the Consumer Product Safety Commission prohibiting the manufacture and sale of children's toys and childcare articles that contained concentrations of more than 0.1% of any one of five phthalates, but remanded the rule to the Commission to address two proced...