The D.C Circuit denied an industry group's challenge to EPA's 2021 rule requiring power plants in several upwind states to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions. The group argued the rule was arbitrary and capricious, and that EPA failed to conduct a legally and technically appropriate assessment as requi...

A district court denied a mining company's motion to dismiss an Indian tribe's challenge to a land exchange between the company and the Forest Service. The tribe argued that the land exchange implicated its sovereign interests, including a right under an 1854 treaty to use the land for hunting, fish...

A district court dismissed a challenge to the Michigan Public Service Commission's 2017 and 2018 orders requiring electricity suppliers to buy energy from local sources. Industry groups argued the local clearing requirement violated the dormant Commerce Clause. The court concluded the requirement di...

A district court denied an animal advocacy group's and individuals' motion for summary judgment in a challenge to the National Park Service's (NPS') management of the tule elk population in the Tomales Point area of Point Reyes National Seashore. The plaintiffs argued NPS' failure to timely revise i...

The Fifth Circuit reversed summary judgment for NOAA and NMFS in a challenge to the agencies' rule requiring charter boat owners to install NMFS-approved vessel monitoring systems (VMSs) to track the vessels' GPS locations. Charter boat captains argued the rule's tracking requirement exceeded the au...

The Tenth Circuit dismissed a petition to review NRC's grant of a temporary license for spent nuclear fuel storage near the New Mexico border. New Mexico argued NRC violated NEPA and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, and acted ultra vires in granting the license. NRC moved to dismiss for lack of jurisdi...

The Sixth Circuit granted a petition to review EPA's removal of an air nuisance rule from Ohio's SIP. Environmental groups and individuals argued that EPA violated the CAA and APA in removing the rule. EPA moved to remand without vacatur to review its removal of the rule. The court found that vacatu...

A district court granted summary judgment for BLM, fishing groups, and a tribe in a challenge to the Oregon Water Resources Department's (OWRD's) order prohibiting the Bureau from releasing water from Upper Klamath Lake. The plaintiffs argued BLM was required to comply with the ESA in operating the ...

A magistrate judge recommended that environmental groups' motion for summary judgment be denied in a challenge to FWS' authorization of oil and gas drilling on the northern coast of Alaska. The groups argued that FWS' five-year incidental take regulation, accompanying biological opinion, and EA unla...

The Sixth Circuit reversed a district court's denial of a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit concerning a Kentucky law that offsets the state's severance tax on coal. A coal producer from Illinois, where there is no severance tax, argued the law discriminated against out-of-state coal in violation ...