A state high court reversed a lower court decision in a lawsuit over a hog farmer's application for a special zoning exception to construct a livestock manure storage facility. The farmer argued that a a local zoning ordinance setting forth criteria that must be met to obtain approval for the facili...

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...

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...

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...

The Tenth Circuit dismissed Utah's challenge to a settlement agreement that requires BLM to revise motorized vehicle trails in southern Utah to minimize potential harm to wildlife, cultural, and archaeological sites. Before a district court, the state argued that the settlement agreement illegally c...

A district court declared unconstitutional a California law that regulates the recording of conveyances of federal public lands in the state. DOJ argued that the state law, which grants the State Lands Commission the right of first refusal on transfers of federal public lands, runs afoul of the doct...

In a modified opinion that withdraws a prior published opinion, the Ninth Circuit found that an environmental group has standing to challenge a uranium mining company's right to operate on land previously withdrawn from new mining claims. The group argued that the U.S. Forest Service violated the Ge...