A district court upheld President Barack Obama's 2016 proclamation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts off the New England coast as a marine national monument. Commercial fishing associations argued that the monument exceeded the president's authority under the Antiquities Act because it lies ent...

A district court remanded the U.S. Forest Service's decision concerning the management of roads and trails in the Santa Fe National Forest. An environmental group argued that the agency should have considered the effects of forest management on the endangered Jemez Mountains salamander. The magistra...

A district court preliminarily enjoined BLM from conducting oil and gas lease sales under the procedures of a new BLM directive. Environmental groups argued that the directive unlawfully constrains environmental review of, and public participation in, oil and gas lease decisions that affect and thre...

The Fourth Circuit vacated both an incidental take statement issued by FWS and a right-of-way permit issued by the National Park Service (NPS) for construction of a natural gas pipeline that intersects the Blue Ridge Parkway. Environmental groups argued that the take limits set by FWS in its Inciden...

The Fourth Circuit vacated and remanded BLM's decision granting a right-of-way through federal land for construction of a pipeline and the U.S. Forest Service's decision to amend the Jefferson National Forest Land Resource Management Plan to accommodate the right-of-way and pipeline construction. En...

A district court granted in part and denied in part outdoor groups' motion for summary judgment seeking injunctive relief from the U.S. Forest Service's Travel Plan for the Bitterroot National Forest (Travel Plan), which prohibits motorized and bicycle travel in wilderness study areas (WSA) within t...

A district court dismissed groups' NEPA and CWA claims against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in connection with its approval of a 17-mile transmission line across the James River near historic Jamestown, Virginia. The Corps took a "hard look" at the project and properly determined that no EIS was...

Pennsylvania's highest court reversed a lower court decision that would have allowed a company to drill, construct, develop, and operate unconventional natural gas wells as a conditional use in a district zoned for residential and agricultural uses. The lower court held that the proposed gas well wa...

A Federal Claims court held that the Surface Transportation Board (STB) temporarily took landowners' property without just compensation for use as an interim trail under the National Trails System Act. The landowners' predecessors-in-interest sold right-of-way easements to a railroad for operation o...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court's grant of summary judgment in favor of a Native American tribe in a lawsuit seeking to enjoin the DOI's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) from taking a parcel of land into trust for the tribe so it could build a casino and hotel complex. Following the BIA's dec...