The D.C. Circuit affirmed a lower court decision granting DOI's motion to dismiss an order compelling it to update the EIS for the federal coal management program. Environmental and community organizations claimed that the programmatic EIS (PEIS) for the program violated NEPA and the APA. They argue...
The D.C. Circuit held that a mining company must exhaust its administrative remedies before it can challenge potential claims filed against it under the Black Lung Benefits Act (BLBA). The BLBA grants coal miners the right to monthly benefits payments from a former employer in the event they suffer ...
A district court upheld a surface coal mining permit issued to a company even though the cotenant objected to any mining on the property. The company cotenant conveyed the right to enter and surface mine coal to an affiliate, but the other cotenant did not consent to surface mining. Nevertheless, th...
The D.C. Circuit denied environmentalists' attempt to challenge an NRC decision to issue a uranium mining license in Wyoming. The mining company sought a license from NRC to mine uranium at the Ross Project in Crook County, Wyoming. NRC conducted an EIS and granted the license. Environmental groups ...
The Fourth Circuit denied a coal company's petition to review an ALJ decision that found that a widow was entitled to survivorship benefits under the Black Lung Benefits Act. The coal miner in question worked in coal mines for 34 years, was a regular smoker, and retired in 1993. He developed serious...
The Tenth Circuit held that a coal mining company was entitled to judicial review of a DOI decision after a lower court dismissed the suit. In 2013, the company was cited by DOI for a violation of SMCRA. In 2015, the mining company filed a notice of appeal and a petition for stay pending appeal with...
The Fourth Circuit upheld a lower court ruling that a coal company isn't liable for claims by property owners over water disposed of in a mine beneath their property because Virginia's statute of limitations prohibited the suit. The coal company undertook “dewatering” its active mine and disposi...
The Fourth Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that upheld a Virginia uranium mining ban on non-federal lands. In the early 1980s, a uranium deposit was discovered in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, on land owned by a mineral company. The Virginia Assembly requested that the state Coal and Energ...
The Fourth Circuit held that a district court committed no reversible error in a case where an energy company chairman was convicted of conspiring to violate federal mine safety laws. The case involved an accident on April 5, 2010, at the Upper Big Branch coal mine in Montcoal, West Virginia, which ...
The Ninth Circuit held that BLM violated NEPA when it approved a proposed molybdenum mining operation near Eureka, Nevada. Environmental groups filed suit against BLM, challenging the agency's analysis of the project's cumulative air impacts and the baseline levels of certain air pollutants, and the...