A district court upheld BLM's approval of a proposed lithium mine project in Nevada. Environmental groups, ranchers, and tribes argued the project would cause unnecessary and undue degradation to the local sage-grouse population and habitat, groundwater aquifers, and air quality in violation of FLPM...

A district court granted in part and denied in part a pipeline owner's motion for summary judgment in a CERCLA suit brought by the owner of land where the pipeline is located in West Virginia. The landowner alleged that the pipeline leaked and contaminated her soil and groundwater, and sought to rec...

A district court granted a federal contractor's motion for partial summary judgment in a CERCLA liability suit brought by the state of New Mexico and a Native American reservation concerning Gold King Mine's release of millions of gallons of contaminated water into nearby rivers in 2015. The contrac...

In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the U.S. government in a CERCLA liability lawsuit, requiring oil companies to reimburse approximately $50 million of EPA's environmental cleanup costs at a Superfund site in California. The government had sought reimbursement...

A district court vacated two rights-of-way that BLM issued to a company in 2020 to transport water through an existing gas pipeline across federal lands. Environmental groups sought vacatur, arguing the rights-of-way violated FLPMA, NEPA, and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). BLM agreed...

The D.C. Circuit vacated a district court's grant of summary judgment to EPA in a challenge to the Agency's approval of a permitting program for coal ash disposal facilities in Oklahoma. Environmental groups challenged EPA’s approval on several grounds under RCRA and the APA, and the district cour...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for FWS in a challenge to its combined EIS and comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) concerning the continued leasing of refuge land for farming in the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex. Environmental groups argued the EIS/CCP violated the Nat...

The Ninth Circuit reversed a previous ruling that vacated summary judgment for a California city in a RCRA citizen suit brought by an environmental group. The group had argued the city's water wells were contaminated by hexavalent chromium that was in turn transported to city residents through its w...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed, 2-1, a district court's denial of a Native American group's motion to preliminarily enjoin a land exchange and prevent copper mining on land in Arizona. The group argued the land exchange violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), the Free Exercise Clause, and...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for FWS in a challenge to its 2016 Kenai Rule, which banned baiting of brown bears in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge and hunting of coyotes, lynx, and wolves in a specific wildlife recreation area. The state of Alaska and a hunting group argued the rul...