The D.C. Circuit denied environmental groups' and township's petitions to review FERC's approval of an application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity for a proposed natural gas pipeline project in Pennsylvania and Delaware. The petitioners argued FERC violated NEPA by failing to a...
The Tenth Circuit affirmed dismissal of a challenge to FWS' 2018 decision to modify certain trails in the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge. Community groups argued the modifications were significant and that FWS failed to prepare a supplemental EIS and relied on categorical exclusions based on a...
The D.C. Circuit denied a city's second petition to review FERC's order granting a certificate of public convenience and necessity for construction of a natural gas pipeline from Ohio to Michigan. In the city's initial petition, it argued FERC had not adequately justified its reliance on agreements ...
The D.C. Circuit denied environmental groups' petition to review FERC's order approving an extension of a natural gas pipeline into North Carolina. The groups specifically challenged the order's approved return on equity rate and the adequacy of the Commission's EIS, arguing that FERC should not hav...
Proposed oil and gas pipelines have faced a myriad of legal challenges in the past several years. Even where pipeline proponents have prevailed, the cost and delay of protracted litigation has often caused cancellation of pipeline projects. In addition, presidential transitions have led to abrupt reversals of pipeline policies, which courts have often reviewed skeptically.
The Joe Biden Administration has proposed reversing a number of the Donald Trump Administration’s changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations by again requiring federal agencies to evaluate the direct, indirect, and cumulative environmental impacts of projects under environmental review. On April 20, 2022, the first phase of those amendments was finalized, and on April 21, the Environmental Law Institute hosted a panel of experts to explore the changes to NEPA implementation, and how they might impact climate change policy and environmental justice.
The D.C. Circuit affirmed a district court's dismissal of landowners' challenge to FERC's authority to grant pipeline certificates. The landowners asked the district court to declare that Congress' delegation of authority to FERC was unconstitutional and that all past certificates were void, and sou...
The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a district court's grant of summary judgment in a challenge to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement's authorization of well stimulation treatments on offshore oil drilling platforms in t...
A district court granted in part and denied in part summary judgment for environmental groups in a challenge to the National Park Service's (NPS') policy directive instructing park superintendents to allow e-bikes in areas where traditional bikes were used, and subsequent rule amending NPS regulatio...
A district court granted in part and denied in part BLM's and the Forest Service's motion to remand a challenge to the agencies' approval of a master development plan concerning oil and gas development activities on Colorado's Western Slope. Environmental groups argued the agencies violated NEPA by ...