In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and remanded in part a district court order that lifted an injunction on a logging project in the Kootenai National Forest. Environmental groups sought to enjoin the project again, arguing that the Forest Service's analysis of the project...
A state high court reversed a lower court decision in a lawsuit over a hog farmer's application for a special zoning exception to construct a livestock manure storage facility. The farmer argued that a a local zoning ordinance setting forth criteria that must be met to obtain approval for the facili...
In Federal Lands and Fossil Fuels: Maximizing Social Welfare in Federal Energy Leasing, Prof. Jayni Foley Hein assesses inefficiencies in the federal fossil fuel leasing program that lead to the over-extraction of fossil fuels at great societal cost. In recognition of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI's) role in stewarding federal lands for the long-term benefit of the American people, Hein proposes that DOI should adopt a policy of seeking to maximize social welfare or “net public benefits” in its leasing decisions.
The externality costs of fossil fuel production—including pollution costs—are not accounted for under the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (Interior) coal, oil, and natural gas leasing programs. This results in fossil fuel production on public lands imposing significant social costs. Interior’s leasing programs have never been tailored to meet any past or present climate change goals, despite their significant contribution to domestic greenhouse gas emissions.
A district court granted environmental groups' motions for summary judgment in a challenge to BLM's 2017 determination that it did not need to authorize a proposed water pipeline project in southern California because the project fell within the scope of a right-of-way granted to a railroad company ...
A district court issued a temporary restraining order forbidding BLM from permitting a ranching company to use two grazing allotments that had been authorized by the Secretary of the Interior in response to a presidential pardon of the company's prior criminal convictions. Environmental groups argue...
A magistrate judge ruled against a timber company's motion for summary judgment in a challenge to President Obama's decision to include lands covered under the Oregon and California Revested Lands Act (O&A Act) in the expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. The company argued that t...
A district court ordered BLM to provide an explanation for how management of timber harvest on certain federal land (O&C land) in western Oregon had changed, if at all, after President Obama designated approximately 16,000 acres of O&C land as part of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. ...
A district court vacated DOI's decision to enter into a land exchange agreement to facilitate construction of a road through Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Conservation groups argued the agreement violated the APA because DOI failed to provide justification for reversing previous findin...
The Tenth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court's decision in a challenge to a natural gas pipeline company's expired easement on tribal land. The pipeline company appealed the district court's granting of summary judgment to tribal members on their trespass claims, arguing tha...