A district court granted environmental groups' motions for summary judgment in a challenge to BLM's 2017 determination that it did not need to authorize a proposed water pipeline project in southern California because the project fell within the scope of a right-of-way granted to a railroad company ...

A district court issued a temporary restraining order forbidding BLM from permitting a ranching company to use two grazing allotments that had been authorized by the Secretary of the Interior in response to a presidential pardon of the company's prior criminal convictions. Environmental groups argue...

The Ninth Circuit reversed a district court's dismissal of a challenge to the use of lead ammunition in Kaibab National Forest. Environmental groups sought to require the U.S. Forest Service to address the use of lead ammunition by hunters in the national forest, alleging the the Service's failure t...

A district court denied a city's motion for a preliminary injunction in a RCRA lawsuit against two utility companies that owned a long-abandoned manufactured gas plant. The city alleged that the plant had contaminated soil in a nearby park and around a decommissioned water main, and sought to requir...

A magistrate judge ruled against a timber company's motion for summary judgment in a challenge to President Obama's decision to include lands covered under the Oregon and California Revested Lands Act (O&A Act) in the expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. The company argued that t...

A district court ordered BLM to provide an explanation for how management of timber harvest on certain federal land (O&C land) in western Oregon had changed, if at all, after President Obama designated approximately 16,000 acres of O&C land as part of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. ...

A district court vacated DOI's decision to enter into a land exchange agreement to facilitate construction of a road through Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Conservation groups argued the agreement violated the APA because DOI failed to provide justification for reversing previous findin...

A district court granted residents' motion for summary judgment in a RCRA lawsuit against the city of New Orleans for inhumane and dangerous living conditions at a residential development located on a former landfill site previously operated by the city. The residents argued that the city had previo...

A district court denied EPA's motions to dismiss a lawsuit brought by two states and a Native American tribe seeking to recover response costs from the 2015 Gold King mine spill that sent millions of gallons of acid mine drainage into the Animas and San Juan Rivers. EPA argued that it retained sover...

The Tenth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court's decision in a challenge to a natural gas pipeline company's expired easement on tribal land. The pipeline company appealed the district court's granting of summary judgment to tribal members on their trespass claims, arguing tha...