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...
FWS revised regulations concerning the issuance of enhancement of survival and incidental take permits under the ESA.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration amended and updated its regulations for implementing NEPA, and incorporated updates to its categorical exclusions.
BLM finalized a rule to reduce the waste of natural gas from venting, flaring, and leaks during oil and gas production activities on federal and Indian leases and to ensure that, when federal or Indian gas is wasted, the public and Indian mineral owners are compensated for the wasted gas through royalty payments.
FWS revised its regulations concerning protections of endangered and threatened species under the ESA by reinstating the general application of the "blanket rule'' option for protecting newly listed threatened species pursuant to §4(d) of the Act, with the continued option to promulgate species-specific §4(d) rules, and extending to federally recognized tribes the exceptions to prohibitions for threatened species that the regulations currently provide to the employees or agents of FWS and other federal and state agencies to aid, salvage, or dispose of threatened species.
FWS and NMFS finalized revisions to portions of their regulations that implement §4 of the ESA, concerning procedures and criteria used for listing, reclassifying, and delisting species on the lists of endangered and threatened wildlife and plants and designating critical habitat.
FWS and NMFS finalized revisions to portions of their regulations that implement §7 of the ESA concerning interagency cooperation procedures.
Concerned by methane’s potent climate-altering emissions, a growing number of states and municipalities have embraced the phaseout of natural gas as a tool to mitigate climate change. But in April 2023, the California Restaurant Association successfully petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to overturn the city of Berkeley’s ban on natural gas infrastructure in new buildings. The three-judge panel found the ban preempted by the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act, and in January 2024, the Ninth Circuit denied Berkeley’s petition for rehearing.