The Montana Supreme Court, 5-2, reversed a lower court order that revoked the Montana Department of Environmental Quality's (MDEQ's) approval of a permit for construction and operation of a proposed copper mine. Conservation groups argued MDEQ's issuance of the permit violated the state's Metal Mine...
OSM approved, with two deferrals, an amendment to the Virginia regulatory program under SMCRA.
A district court denied environmental groups' motion to preliminarily enjoin an oil drilling project in Wyoming's Powder River Basin. The groups argued DOI's initial approval of the project violated NEPA by failing to take a "hard look" at relevant environmental issues, violated FLPMA by failing to ...
A district court dismissed a mining company's challenge to DOI's cancellation of two leases for a proposed copper and nickel mine in Superior National Forest. The company argued the cancellation violated the company's right to successive lease renewals and to be free from government action that is a...
The California Supreme Court affirmed an appellate court ruling in favor of oil producers and mineral rights holders in a challenge to a county ordinance banning oil and gas wastewater injection and impoundment and drilling of new oil and gas wells. The plaintiffs argued the ordinance was preempted ...
BLM proposed to revise its oil and gas leasing regulations to reflect provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act pertaining to royalty rates, rentals, and minimum bids; update the bonding requirements for leasing, development, and production; improve its leasing process to ensure proper stewardship of public lands and resources; and modify operating requirements.
BLM withdrew approximately 336,404.42 acres of public lands surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park from location and entry under U.S. mining laws and from leasing under mineral leasing laws, but not mineral materials laws, subject to valid existing rights, to protect these public lands and the greater connected landscape with a rich Puebloan, Tribal Nation, and cultural legacy in San Juan, Sandoval, and McKinley counties, New Mexico, for a period of 20 years.
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" ...
A district court denied emergency motions brought by environmental groups, ranchers, and tribes to halt construction of a lithium mine near Thacker Pass, Nevada, pending appeal. The plaintiffs initially argued BLM's approval of the mine violated FLPMA, NEPA, and the National Historic Preservation Ac...
A district court granted summary judgment for an oil and gas company in a decades-long suit concerning the company's oil lease on land sacred to the Blackfeet Nation in Lewis and Clark National Forest. On the latest remand from the appellate court, the company challenged the Secretary of DOI's 2016 ...