APPALACHIAN VOICES v. U.S. DEP'T OF THE INTERIOR

No. 23-1384, No. 23-1592, No. 23-1594.

78 F.4th 71 (2023)

APPALACHIAN VOICES; Wild Virginia; West Virginia Rivers Coalition; Preserve Giles County; Preserve Bent Mountain, a chapter of Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League; West Virginia Highlands Conservancy; Indian Creek Watershed Association; Sierra Club; Chesapeake Climate Action Network; Center for Biological Diversity, Petitioners, v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR; Deb Haaland, in her official capacity as Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior; United States Fish and Wildlife Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Interior; Cindy Schulz, in her official capacity as Field Supervisor, Virginia Ecological Services, Responsible Official; Martha Williams, in her official capacity as Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Respondents, Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC, Intervenor. The Wilderness Society, Petitioner, v. United States Forest Service; Homer L. Wilkes, in his official capacity as Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment; U.S. Department of Agriculture; Kenderick Arney, in his official capacity as Regional Forester of the Southern Region, Respondents, and Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC, Intervenor. Robert C. Scott; Gerald E. Connolly; Donald S. Beyer, Jr.; Jennifer Wexton; Jennifer L. McClellan; William D. Araiza; Erwin Chemerinsky; Caprice Roberts, Howard M. Wasserman, Amici Supporting Petitioner. The Wilderness Society, Petitioner, v. Bureau of Land Management; Deb Haaland, in her official capacity as Secretary of the Interior; Mitchell Leverette, in his official capacity as State Director, Bureau of Land Management, Eastern States, Respondents, and Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC, Intervenor. Robert C. Scott; Gerald E. Connolly; Donald S. Beyer, Jr.; Jennifer Wexton; Jennifer L. McClellan; William D. Araiza; Erwin Chemerinsky; Caprice Roberts; Howard M Wasserman, Amici Supporting Petitioner.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Decided: August 11, 2023.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Kevin William McArdle , UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Respondents. Kimberley Hunter , SOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Derek Owen Teaney , APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN ADVOCATES, Lewisburg, West Virginia, for Petitioners. Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. , MUNGER, TOLLES & OLSON LLP, Washington, D.C., for Intervenor.

Motions to dismiss granted. Judge Wynn wrote the opinion, in which Judge Gregory and Judge Thacker joined. Judge Gregory wrote a separate opinion concurring in the judgment. Judge Thacker wrote a separate opinion concurring.


These consolidated cases present weighty and important questions involving the separation of powers as it relates to a project of national interest. Petitioners are environmental groups challenging federal agency actions that will enable the final construction and initial operation of...

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