Invoking the continuing jurisdiction of the federal district court that determined the portion of annually harvestable fish guaranteed to several indigenous peoples (“Tribes”) by essentially identical treaty clauses guaranteeing off-reservation fishing rights, several Tribes and the U.S.
In Castle Mountain Coalition v. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, several non-profit organizations and the governing body of a federally-recognized Native Village challenged a federal agency’s determination that a state may interpret the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) to require an administrative proceeding be initiated in order to terminate a coal mining permit (rather than automatic termination) when the permit holder fails to commence mining operations within three years of the permit issuance.
Sierra Club v. U.S. Dept. of the Interior, ___ F.3d ___ (4th Cir., August 6, 2018)(No. 18-1082, consolidated with No. 18-1083)
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
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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.
