The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision that BLM complied with NEPA and FLPMA in allowing the construction of a utility-scale wind project in California's Sonoran Desert. BLM…

A Pennsylvania appellate court reversed a lower court order denying an energy company's application to construct and operate a natural gas well on land it has leased from a private landowner…

A district court held that a Native American tribe that occupies land on Fidalgo Island in Skagit County, Washington, may go forward with trespass and breach of contract claims against a railroad…

The California Supreme Court reversed a lower court decision that a developer's proposal to demolish an existing home and build a 10,000 square-foot single-family home on the lot may not be…

A California court held that federal mining law preempts a state law that effectively bans the use of any vacuum or suction dredge mining in streams and rivers on federal lands. Under Cal. Fish…

The Tenth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed and remanded in part a lower court decision granting a Utah county rights-of-way over 12 roads that cross federal lands. The county sought to quiet…

The Ohio Supreme Court held that a mineral rights owner may be able to strip mine portions of a state wildlife area. The state and the mineral rights owner entered a contract granting the owner “…

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision dismissing a Native American tribe's claim that DOI violated the APA in refusing to approve the tribe’s assignments of land to certain of its…

The D.C. Circuit held that environmental groups have standing to challenge DOI's decision to remove the Blair Mountain Battlefield—the site of a large 1921 coal miner uprising in West…

New York's highest court held that local governments may ban oil and gas production activities, including hydraulic fracturing, through the adoption of local zoning laws. The case arose after…