A district court denied summary judgment to an environmental group in a lawsuit concerning the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's (PHMSA's) obligations under the Mineral Leasing Act (MLA) to inspect all pipelines on federal lands annually. The group argued the agency failed to ...

A district court granted in part and denied in part the Trump Administration's motion to dismiss a challenge to its plans to fund construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. An environmental group argued that the president exceeded his authority under the National Emergency Act (NEA) when h...

A district court dismissed for lack of standing a lawsuit challenging the Executive Order that requires agencies to repeal two existing rules for each new rule promulgated. California, Minnesota, and Oregon argued that the order delayed or resulted in the undertaking of four rulemakings and that the...

The Court of Federal Claims granted in part and denied in part the Bureau of Reclamation's motion to dismiss a lawsuit concerning its curtailing of water deliveries during a drought in California. The city of Fresno and irrigation districts argued that the Bureau breached its water-supply contracts ...

The Second Circuit reversed a district court ruling that denied environmental groups' motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit seeking FOIA disclosure of an EPA computer model related to its rollback of greenhouse gas emission standards for vehicle manufacturers. The groups challenged EPA's withhold...

The First Circuit reversed the dismissal of a challenge to an EPA directive that prohibits scientists in receipt of certain EPA grants from serving on the Agency's federal advisory committees. A nonprofit group argued the directive violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) by disproportiona...

The D.C. Circuit denied a petition to review the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s rule regulating disclosure requirements for railroad companies transporting hazardous materials. A company argued that the rule, which required railroads to release an aggregated report to off...

The D.C. Circuit granted a petition to reconsider EPA's Final Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) Rule that exempted coal- and oil-burning power plant boilers' startup periods from numerical limits on hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). Environmental groups challenged the Agency's denial of their p...

Minnesota's high court upheld an appellate court ruling in favor of a county's zoning ordinance that bans all industrial-mineral mining, including silica-sand mining. A silica-sand mining company argued the ordinance violated the dormant Commerce Clause by discriminating against its business. The hi...

A district court held invalid an amendment to the city of Toledo's charter that gave legal rights to Lake Erie. A local family farm argued the amendment was unconstitutionally vague and thus that it should be invalidated. The court found that the environmental rights of the lake and its watershed to...