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Public Land & Resources Law Review

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Full-Text Articles in Natural Resources Law

Sierra Club V. United States Army Corps Of Engineers, 803 F.3d 31 (D.C. Cir. 2015), Ariel E. Overstreet-Adkins Nov 2015

Sierra Club V. United States Army Corps Of Engineers, 803 F.3d 31 (D.C. Cir. 2015), Ariel E. Overstreet-Adkins

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Despite the majority’s “needlessly circuitous” route, as described by concurring Judge Brown, Sierra Club v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers stands as a limit of the application of NEPA to a private pipeline constructed largely on private land. While the main issue identified by the District of Columbia Circuit Court was the scope of environmental review required under NEPA, the court also addressed issues dealing with the ESA and the CWA relating to the construction and operation of a pipeline in the Midwest. The court held that under these circumstances, NEPA review was mandated only for those small stretches where …

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Western Watersheds Project V. Jewell, Hannah S. Cail Aug 2015

Western Watersheds Project V. Jewell, Hannah S. Cail

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Idaho District Court granted WWP’s motion for summary judgment and denied those of the BLM and intervener Cattle Associations. WWP alleged the BLM failed to protect sage grouse in some 600 grazing permit decisions issued by the Burley Field Office. The court found the decisions insufficient under NEPA because the BLM did not consider the cumulative impacts of grazing permit renewals on sage grouse.

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High Country Conservation Advocates V. United States Forest Service, 52 F. Supp. 3d 1174 (D. Colo. 2014), Kathryn S. Ore Aug 2015

High Country Conservation Advocates V. United States Forest Service, 52 F. Supp. 3d 1174 (D. Colo. 2014), Kathryn S. Ore

Public Land & Resources Law Review

High Country Conservation Advocates v. United States Forest Service concerns the United States Forest Service’s and the Bureau of Land Management’s authorizations of on-the-ground mining exploration activities in the Sunset Roadless Area of western Colorado. The United States District Court for the District of Colorado’s holding has far-reaching consequences for federal agencies’ analysis and disclosure of impacts on the climate under the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”). In addition to bolstering the Plaintiffs’ recent successes at establishing legal standing to challenge federal agencies’ disclosures and analyses of impacts on the climate under NEPA, High Country is the first case to …

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Columbia River Treaty Renewal And Sovereign Tribal Authority Under The Stevens Treaty “Right-To-Fish” Clause, David A. Bell Jul 2015

Columbia River Treaty Renewal And Sovereign Tribal Authority Under The Stevens Treaty “Right-To-Fish” Clause, David A. Bell

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

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Shell Gulf Of Mexico, Inc. V. Center For Biological Diversity, Nick Vandenbos Apr 2015

Shell Gulf Of Mexico, Inc. V. Center For Biological Diversity, Nick Vandenbos

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In an attempt to stave off what it saw as impending litigation, Shell Gulf of Mexico, Inc. filed suit under the Declaratory Judgment Act against a range of environmental groups opposed to Shell’s oil exploration in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas of Alaska’s Arctic Coast. Shell requested a declaratory judgment that its oil spill response plans, as approved by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, did not violate the Administrative Procedures Act. Although noting the novelty of Shell’s argument, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit concluded the district court had erred in determining a justiciable …

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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.

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Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Of Indians V. Nevada, Dept. Of Wildlife, David A. Bell Apr 2014

Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Of Indians V. Nevada, Dept. Of Wildlife, David A. Bell

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of Indians v. Nevada, Dept. of Wildlife, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a Nevada federal district court decision to vacate the Nevada state engineer’s approval of the transfer of three water applications. While the appeals court recognized the state’s re-watering of wetlands as a “salutary” purpose, it could not allow the engineer’s decision to go forward because it did not meet the legal definition of “irrigation.” The Court made the decision pursuant to two federal court decrees, which resulted from prior actions by the United States to quiet title to …

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Public Lands Access Association V. Board Of County Commissioners Of Madison County, Graham Coppes Mar 2014

Public Lands Access Association V. Board Of County Commissioners Of Madison County, Graham Coppes

Public Land & Resources Law Review

On January 16, 2014, the Supreme Court of Montana reversed and remanded a district court decision that had foreclosed the public’s right to access the Ruby River. The Court held that the right of way was a public prescriptive easement, which extended beyond the road surface itself to include such area as necessary for the county to maintain the road in the interest of the public. Furthermore, the Court concluded that once a public right-of-way is established by prescriptive use, the scope of current and future use of such an easement is not limited to those historic adversarial practices which …

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Bostwick Properties Inc. V. Montana Department Natural Resources And Conservation, Carolyn A. Sime Mar 2014

Bostwick Properties Inc. V. Montana Department Natural Resources And Conservation, Carolyn A. Sime

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Montana Supreme Court upheld the law requiring that applicants for new ground water permits in closed basins show no net surface depletion and that the new appropriation will not adversely affect senior water appropriators. Where the relationship between surface and ground water is uncertain or attenuated, applicants still bear the burden of proof, even if the proposed use constitutes only a de minimis quantity. Once again, the Court acknowledged the hydrologic connection between surface and ground water and the underlying legal framework which seeks to make water available for new appropriation and simultaneously protect the water rights of senior …

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City Of Livingston V. Park Conservation District, Graham Coppes Oct 2013

City Of Livingston V. Park Conservation District, Graham Coppes

Public Land & Resources Law Review

On appeal from the Park County District Court, the Montana Supreme Court upheld the Park Conservation District’s designation of a channel of the Yellowstone River near the City of Livingston as part of the natural course of the river as reasonable and worthy of judicial deference, even though the record demonstrated that the channel had been continuously used as an irrigation conveyance system and local parties had historically referenced the stream with inconsistent characterizations. Looking ahead, this decision illustrates the Court’s strong deference to the resolutions and statutory interpretations of the state’s local conservation districts. To a lesser degree, the …

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