Forest Service Summary: 2019_07_31_Litigation Weekly
COURT DECISIONS – OTHER AGENCIES
The 4th Circuit of Appeals ruled against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s September 2018 Biological Opinion (BO) for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline certificate of public convenience issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission under the National Gas Act (again). A portion of the pipeline project transverses the Monongahela and George Washington National Forests. Forest Service decisions allowing the pipeline have also been invalidated and were discussed here. The Appalachian Trail crossing issue has been appealed to the U. S. Supreme Court (discussed here).
BLOGGER’S BONUS
The New Hampshire Supreme Court upheld the rejection by the state Site Evaluation Committee last year of a large power corridor cutting through the White Mountain National Forest .
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated the sentence of a man convicted of federal charges he polluted waters of the United States by digging ponds on his property and the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest (because he died).
A Montana State District Court held that Montana illegally re-issued a water pollution discharge permit in 2004 for the proposed Montanore copper and silver mine under the Cabinet Mountains on the Kootenai National Forest. This is in addition to legal violations by the Forest Service discussed here.