The Seventh Circuit reversed a district court's preliminary injunction prohibiting approval of a proposed land exchange in Wisconsin for construction of a high-voltage electric transmission line that would run through the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. The appellate court...

The First Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and NMFS in a challenge to BOEM's approval for construction of a wind power project off the coast of Massachusetts. A group of Nantucket residents argued NMFS violated the ESA by issuing a deficient biologic...

The First Circuit affirmed summary judgment for NMFS in a challenge to the Service's issuance of an incidental harassment authorization (IHA) for construction of a wind power project off the coast of Massachusetts. A part-time Martha's Vineyard resident argued NMFS' determination that the IHA, which...

A district court denied the state of Florida's motion for a limited stay of the court's prior ruling vacating EPA's approval of Florida's application to assume permitting authority under §404 of the CWA. Environmental groups initially sued, arguing EPA and FWS violated the ESA because neither the p...

A district court denied tribes' and conservation groups' request to preliminarily enjoin construction of a transmission line through the San Pedro Valley in Arizona. The plaintiffs argued BLM violated the National Historic Preservation Act when it authorized construction to begin without assessing t...

A district court denied summary judgment for Native American tribes in a challenge to EPA's approval of Minnesota's 2021 revised water quality standards. The revisions replaced quantitative standards with qualitative narrative standards that describe the characteristics Minnesota waters must have to...

A district court granted in part and denied in part summary judgment for a conservation group in a challenge to the National Park Service's (NPS') delayed implementation of a marine reserve zone and commercial fishing phaseout in Biscayne National Park in Florida. The group argued NPS violated the A...

A district court denied outdoor recreation groups' request to halt implementation of BLM's 2023 travel management plan (TMP) closing over 300 miles of routes previously available for off-highway vehicle use on public lands within the Labyrinth/Gemini Bridges Travel Management Area in Utah. The group...

A district court denied summary judgment for conservation groups in a challenge to BLM's authorization of six lease sales for oil and gas development in the western United States. The groups argued BLM failed to take the requisite "hard look" when analyzing the cumulative impact of greenhouse gas em...

The Third Circuit granted petitions to review FERC orders allowing the administrator of a 2024/2025 capacity auction to apply a new rule retroactively to a pending action to avoid a spike in electricity prices. Electric suppliers and their trade groups argued the orders violated the filed rate doctr...