The federal district court for the Western District of Virginia concluded that it did not have subject matter jurisdiction over a challenge to a 2020 U.S. Forest Service rule that established three categorical exclusions exempting certain commercial logging projects, road construction, and private uses of national forest lands from NEPA review. The court concluded that the plaintiffs’ claims were not ripe for review and that the plaintiffs lacked standing because they did not tie the categorical exclusions to any site-specific application. The plaintiffs’ allegations included assertions that the exclusions would allow significant climate impacts to occur without analysis.

Lawsuit challenging three categorical exclusions adopted by the U.S. Forest Service to exempt certain projects from NEPA review.

Clinch Coalition v. U.S. Forest Service

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Virginia Federal Court Dismissed Challenge to NEPA Categorical Exclusions Adopted by Forest Service in 2020

Filed

United States of America

Virginia

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Coal is a combustible sedimentary rock formed from carbonised plant matter, rich in carbon and hydrocarbons, and occurring in several main types including hard coal and brown coal.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

Activities that relate to the production of goods and services from forests.

Virginia Federal Court Dismissed Challenge to NEPA Categorical Exclusions Adopted by Forest Service in 2020

Fossil fuel

Economic sector