A district court granted summary judgment for 21 states in a challenge to the Federal Highway Administration's (FHwA's) rule requiring each state to set declining targets for tailpipe carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from vehicles on the National Highway System. The states argued requiring automobile ...

The Fifth Circuit denied environmental groups' petition to review DOT's approval of a license to construct and operate a large deepwater oil facility off the Texas coast. The groups argued the final EIS applied a "flawed" alternatives analysis and "grossly underestimated" the facility's environmenta...

The D.C. Circuit denied an environmental group's petitions to review FERC's decision to grant time extensions for two developers to complete natural gas pipeline projects. The group argued FERC was too permissive in finding "good cause" to grant the extensions. The court found FERC followed its reas...

A district court granted summary judgment for the state of Texas in a challenge to the Federal Highway Administration's (FHwA's) 2023 rule requiring states to measure, report, and set declining targets for the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by vehicles using the interstate and national highway sys...

A district court granted in part and denied in part summary judgment for conservation groups in a challenge to BLM's authorization of a lease sale for oil and gas development in Wyoming. The groups argued BLM failed to take a "hard look" at the potential environmental impacts of the Wyoming sale, as...

A district court denied summary judgment for conservation groups in a challenge to BLM's authorization of six lease sales for oil and gas development in the western United States. The groups argued BLM failed to take the requisite "hard look" when analyzing the cumulative impact of greenhouse gas em...

The Montana Supreme Court, 5-2, reversed a lower court order that revoked the Montana Department of Environmental Quality's (MDEQ's) approval of a permit for construction and operation of a proposed copper mine. Conservation groups argued MDEQ's issuance of the permit violated the state's Metal Mine...

A magistrate judge recommended that a challenge to the city of Portland's amendments to its land use code imposing certain limits on the construction of new or expanded bulk fossil fuel terminals be dismissed. The state of Montana and fuel industry trade groups argued the amendments violated the dor...

The Tenth Circuit, 2-1, affirmed in part and reversed in part summary judgment for an oil and gas company in a lawsuit brought by a cattle ranch in Oklahoma. The ranch brought several tort claims, arguing the company's pipeline leaked and contaminated its property. A district court concluded the con...

In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit vacated a district court's judgment reinstating a 2016 moratorium on new coal leasing on public lands that was lifted by a DOI secretarial order in 2017. Environmental groups, several states, and a tribe argued BLM's final EA and FONSI violated NEPA. DOI ...