Category Archives: Natural Resources

Is Litigation the Solution to Plastic Pollution?

Earlier this week, New York State Attorney General Letitia James filed suit against PepsiCo.  At the core of the case are allegations that PepsiCo.’s widespread use of single-use plastics has created or contributed to a public nuisance in the Buffalo River. 

I don’t doubt that plastic-related conditions in the Buffalo River constitute a public nuisance.  Without diving into the facts, it seems totally plausible. … More

Another NEPA Obstacle To Coal Mining

Last week, Judge Donald Malloy vacated the Environmental Assessment for the Bull Mountains Mine No. 1 in central Montana.  Judge Malloy had already vacated the EA once; when the 9th Circuit affirmed Judge Malloy’s decision that the EA violated NEPA, it remanded the case for new findings as to whether vacatur would be appropriate. 

The default rule is that when agency action has been struck down,… More

Does Environmental Review of Projects Needed for a Net-Zero Economy Lead to a Death By a Thousand Cuts?

Earlier this week, the decision in Bartell Ranch v. McCullough generally supported the Bureau of Land Management’s review under NEPA and related statutes of a lithium mine near Thacker Pass, Nevada.  If approved, Thacker Pass would be the largest lithium mine in the United States.  The decision and the entire review of the mine are important, given how controversial large mining projects can be and how important lithium and other minerals are to building a zero-emission economy.… More

Local Regulation of Fossil Fuel Pipelines (or The Little City That Could)

With all the attention focused on the Keystone pipeline and the disputes over local regulation of fracking, it’s easy to overlook the small city of South Portland, Maine (population 26,000), which just prevailed in the First Circuit in a challenge to its regulation of an international oil pipeline that originates in Montreal and ends in South Portland Harbor.  (Full disclosure: I represented the city in this case.)

When Portland Pipeline Corporation (“PPLC”)(whose parent company was owned at the time at the time by ExxonMobil,… More