Topic
Every decision we've filed under Environmental (Civil).
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated a district court injunction and remanded the case for further proceedings. The court issued a per curiam judgment accompanied by a majority opinion and a dissenting opinion.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit dismissed petitions for review filed by three environmental organizations challenging an Environmental Protection Agency order. The court held that all petitioners lacked Article III standing to challenge the agency's grant of primary enforcement authority to the State of Louisiana.
The Second Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment to the USPS, holding that aggregated change-of-address data qualifies as information of a commercial nature under the Postal Reorganization Act. The court ruled that FOIA Exemption 3 bars disclosure of this data because the underlying statute establishes specific criteria for withholding commercial information derived from the agency's core business operations.
The D.C. Circuit vacated the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approval of a major natural gas pipeline, ruling that the agency arbitrarily overlooked significant environmental consequences and failed to adequately assess market need. The court held that FERC violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Natural Gas Act by ignoring state mandates to reduce gas consumption and failing to properly balance the project's climate impacts.
The D.C. Circuit held that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission must apply the Mobile-Sierra presumption before ordering refunds for electricity sales exceeding a soft price cap. The court vacated the Commission's refund orders and dismissed challenges from consumer groups as moot.