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Environmental Law

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Wyoming

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Law

Wyoming V. Zinke, Jaclyn Van Natta Jan 2018

Wyoming V. Zinke, Jaclyn Van Natta

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Wyoming v. Zinke, the Bureau of Land Management attempted to update a regulation governing hydraulic fracturing from the 1980s, but oil and gas industry companies opposed, and brought suit. The district court held in favor of the industry petitioners, and the Bureau of Land Management and citizen group intervenors appealed. In the wake of appeal, Donald J. Trump became President of the United States. The administration change caused the Bureau of Land Management to alter its position and align with the new administration. Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, via executive order, began rescinding the new fracking regulation, …


Defenders Of Wildlife V. Zinke, Jacob R. Schwaller May 2017

Defenders Of Wildlife V. Zinke, Jacob R. Schwaller

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Wyoming was the final holdout of protections for wolves under the Endangered Species Act, and a recent decision by the United States Circuit for the District of Columbia has finally overturned those protections. After years of court battles, this decision marks the final adjudication removing federal protections, and places the management of the wolves in the Greater Yellowstone Area back in the hands of the states surrounding Yellowstone National Park. Complete deference to state regulatory systems may be a new trend in the adjudication of cases under the ESA, and this case could have significant impacts on future deference given …


Wyoming V. United States Department Of The Interior, Arie R. Mielkus Jan 2017

Wyoming V. United States Department Of The Interior, Arie R. Mielkus

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Responding to an overpopulation of wild horses on the BLM lands in the state, Wyoming sued the Secretary of the Interior and the BLM for failure to manage the excess numbers. Wyoming’s claim, based on the Wild Horses and Burros Act and Administrative Procedure Act, jumped the gun by bringing it before the BLM made its determination that removal was necessary to manage the overpopulation.


Wildearth Guardians V. Jewell, 738 F.3d 298 (D.C. Cir. 2013), Ross Keogh Apr 2014

Wildearth Guardians V. Jewell, 738 F.3d 298 (D.C. Cir. 2013), Ross Keogh

Public Land & Resources Law Review

As part of a comprehensive strategy to keep coal “in the ground,” environmental plaintiffs challenged the BLM’s leasing of federally owned coal tracts in the Powder River Basin in 2010 on climate change grounds. WildEarth Guardians was the first suit to reach a federal circuit court, where the District of Columbia Circuit Court affirmed that the BLM’s environmental analysis of the climate change impacts of the leased coal was adequate under NEPA. Notably, in reversing the district court, the circuit court found that the plaintiffs had procedural standing.


Cloud Foundation, Inc. V. Salazar, Maxwell Kirchhoff Mar 2014

Cloud Foundation, Inc. V. Salazar, Maxwell Kirchhoff

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The United States District Court for the District of Columbia found that the BLM and Forest Service did not act arbitrarily and capriciously when they maintained and extended a boundary fence and decided not to expand a wild horse and burro range. The court also held the BLM used reasoned decision making when it determined a target horse and burro population in a herd management plan. Additionally, a National Environmental Policy Act claim was defeated under the “capable of repetition yet evading review” exception to the mootness doctrine.