Earth Island Institute v. Nash

The federal district court for the Eastern District of California denied a motion for a preliminary injunction in a case challenging federal and state reviews and authorizations of a logging project and biomass energy facility on public forestland that burned during the 2013 Rim Fire. The plaintiffs alleged among other things that the defendants failed to consider the two projects’ cumulative impacts on carbon emissions. Although the court found that the plaintiffs raised “serious questions” as to whether a decision not to review the biomass facility together with the logging project was arbitrary and capricious, the court found that a preliminary injunction was not warranted because the balance of harms did not tilt sharply in the plaintiffs’ favor.