In Western Organization of Resource Councils et al v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management et al, several environmental organizations challenged a federal agency’s approval of revised Resource Management Plans (“RMPs”) for coal development in two areas covering millions of acres of public lands and federal mineral estates within the Powder River Basin.
United Soils Management Ltd. v. Mohammed, 2017 ONSC 4450 (July 25, 2017)
Ontario Superior Court of Justice
Tennessee Clean Water Network v. Tennessee Valley Authority, No. 3:15-cv-00424 (M.D. Tenn. August 4, 2017)
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee
For decades, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) disposed coal ash from a coal-fired power plant near Gallatin, Tennessee into unlined ponds adjacent to the Cumberland River. Two local organizations filed a case alleging violations of the Clean Water Act.
Yaiguaje v. Chevron Corporation [2017] ONCA 827 (October 31, 2017)
Court of Appeal for Ontario
Ecuadorian community members filed an action in Canada for recognition and enforcement of an Ecuadorian court judgment holding Chevron accountable for environmental harm from petroleum development in the Amazon. The Superior Court of Justice granted Chevron’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed the plaintiffs’ claim against Chevron (Yaiguaje v. Chevron Corporation [2015] ONSC 135).
In re Application of Maui Electric Company, Case No. SCWC-15-0000640 (Dec. 14, 2017)
Hawaii Supreme Court
The complaint filed 6 November 2017 is available through the link below.
In Wildearth Guardians, environmental organizations claimed that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) did not adequately address greenhouse gas emissions associated with coal leases. In its environmental analysis, the BLM had concluded that there was no appreciable difference between the United States’ total carbon dioxide emissions under the proposed leases and the alternative of not developing the leases (the ‘no action alternative’). The BLM concluded that opting not to issue these coal mine leases was unlikely to “result in a decrease of U.S.
