The Fifth Circuit granted oil and gas interest groups' and the state of Texas' petition to review NRC's issuance of a license to a private company to operate a temporary storage facility for spent nuclear fuel on the Permian Basin. Petitioners argued, among other things, that NRC lacked statutory au...

A district court dismissed a challenge to President Biden's redesignation of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. The state of Utah and two counties argued the president exceeded his authority under the Antiquities Act by enlarging the two monuments via proclamations, and...

A district court granted environmental groups' motion for a preliminary injunction in a challenge to FWS' decision to install a permanent pipeline for Arctic grayling in Red Rock Lakes Wilderness in southwestern Montana. The groups argued the decision violated the Wilderness Act by ignoring the Act'...

The D.C. Circuit reversed summary judgment for Oregon counties, trade groups, and timber companies in five lawsuits concerning President Obama's expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. Plaintiffs argued that by outlawing logging on land included in the monument through Proclamation 9564...

The Sixth Circuit reversed a district court ruling in a lawsuit concerning 12 oil refinery sites that operated during World War II. The current owner of the refineries sought contribution from the U.S. government for environmental contamination discovered at the sites, arguing the government's produ...

The Ninth Circuit granted DOI's motion to dismiss a long-running land exchange dispute over construction of a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. The court found the Secretary of the Interior's recent withdrawal of the exchange, which was approved by a previous Secretary, mooted the c...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the U.S. government in a challenge to President Obama's issuance of a proclamation expanding the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in southwestern Oregon. A timber company argued the proclamation was an invalid exercise of the Antiquities Act because ...

A district court denied environmental groups' motion for summary judgment in a challenge to BLM's 2020 rule that eliminated the 15-day protest process for timber sales and clarified that an authorizing officer can implement forest management decisions immediately. The groups argued BLM violated the ...

The Ninth Circuit reversed in part and vacated in part a district court's decision in a challenge to the Federal Subsistence Board's 2020 approval of two short-term changes to hunting practices on federal land in Alaska—the opening of an emergency deer and moose hunt for a federally recognized tri...

A district court granted summary judgment for DOI in a federally recognized tribe's challenge to the agency's refusal to take land into trust for a casino. The tribe argued DOI misinterpreted the Michigan Indian Land Claims Settlement Act (Michigan Act), and that its refusal violated the APA. The co...