A district court granted in part and denied in part North Dakota's motion for preliminary injunction in a lawsuit concerning BLM's "pause" on nearly all quarterly lease sales of federal land in the state for oil and gas exploration in 2021 and 2022. North Dakota argued the "pause" or "cancellation" ...

A district court granted in part and denied in part environmental groups' motion for summary judgment in a challenge to BLM's second approval of a proposed open pit mine in Nevada. The groups argued BLM failed to adequately protect federal water reserves within the mine area; violated NEPA by failin...

A district court denied for lack of jurisdiction the Commonwealth of Kentucky's and business groups' motions to preliminarily enjoin EPA's and the Army Corps of Engineers' 2023 rule revising the definition of "waters of the United States" under the CWA. The court found that plaintiffs failed to show...

A district court denied environmental groups' motions to preliminarily enjoin construction on an oil project in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve. One of the groups argued BLM violated NEPA and the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act (NPRPA) by failing to consider a reasonable range of alterna...

The Ninth Circuit, 2-1, granted in part and denied in part a city's petition for review of FAA's issuance of an EIS and record of decision allowing a Los Angeles airport to begin construction on a replacement terminal. The city challenged FAA's compliance with NEPA's requirement that an EIS include ...

The Fourth Circuit vacated the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection's CWA §401 certification for a proposed pipeline that would transport natural gas from West Virginia to southern Virginia. Landowners and environmental groups petitioned for review of the certification, arguing the ...

The Fourth Circuit denied a petition to review the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality's (DEQ's) and the State Water Control Board's approval of a state water permit for a proposed pipeline that would transport natural gas from West Virginia to southern Virginia. Environmental groups argued...

A district court granted the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM's) motion to dismiss a challenge to its memorandum designating certain areas in New York as "wind energy areas" for purposes of offshore wind development. A nonprofit group argued BOEM violated NEPA by failing to conduct an EA pr...

A district court granted in part an environmental group's motion for summary judgment in a challenge to NMFS' 2021 permit authorizing the incidental taking of ESA-listed humpback whales in a sablefish fishery off the Pacific coast. The group argued NMFS violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMP...

A district court denied summary judgment for environmental groups in a challenge to the Forest Service's approval of a proposed mining exploration project on public land in the eastern Sierra Nevadas. The groups argued the Service violated NEPA by relying on two categorical exclusions—for mineral ...