Administrative Procedure Act Litigation

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The Natural Resources Section litigates hundreds of cases every year that are brought under the Administrative Procedure Act and implicate dozens of statutes involving the use and protection of federal lands and waters. Chief among those statutes is the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which gives rise to a significant portion of the Section’s litigation. Often referred to as the “Magna Carta” of federal environmental law, NEPA, enacted in 1970, is a procedural statute requiring federal agencies to assess the environmental effects of proposed major federal actions and to consider reasonable alternatives to and cumulative impacts from those actions prior to making decisions. NEPA also sets forth requirements for agencies to disclose their environmental analyses to both public officials and citizens and consider any comments from those officials or citizens as part of the agency’s decision-making process. Because the substantive statute that authorizes an agency to act once the NEPA process is complete may preclude a direct challenge to the agency’s final decision, NEPA’s procedural requirements are often the principal, and in some cases, the only available tool for challenges to agency action in the courts.

The Natural Resources Section represents virtually all federal agencies and defends their decision making with respect to an astonishing variety of programs and projects. The Natural Resources Section has litigated NEPA cases concerning diverse topics such as:

• Federal financing of highway and other infrastructure projects;
• Army, Navy and Air Force training exercises;
• Management decisions in National Parks and National Forests;
• Space Shuttle launches and scientific research into particle physics and the impacts of climate change on our coastline;
• Nuclear weapons disposal and cleanup of sites used to process nuclear fuel; 
• Renewable energy projects (wind farms, solar farms, biofuels, waste-to-energy);
• Antarctic research;
• IRS regulations;
• Whale hunting and ceremonial practices involving eagles;
• International pipelines that transport energy resources; and
• The transshipment of radioactive waste through the Panama Canal.

Our litigation has charted the development of NEPA case law over the past four decades. Our lawyers are recognized experts in the field and are sought after for teaching and lecturing inside and outside the Government.