A US Department of Justice (DOJ) blog post, dated July 29, 2025, announced a court decision that "Secures Win for American Energy in Crow Creek Natural Gas Pipeline." With that decision, DOJ "successfully convinced a district court to deny a request to pause construction of a new natural gas pipeline."
The suit came after the US Forest Service completed "a supplemental environmental impact statement supporting the project." Environmental groups sued, claiming the Forest Service "did not adequately consider potential environmental impacts from the pipeline."
District Court Refused to Prevent
Construction
The environmental groups asked the District Court (trial level) to
prevent construction of the pipeline while the suit was pending.
The District Court denied the request, saying the environmental
groups were unlikely to succeed and "did not demonstrate a
likelihood of irreparable harm from the project."
The environmental groups appealed, asking the Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the District Court's refusal to prevent construction while the suit was pending.
Appellate Procedural Rules Require another Request to
the District Court
Under the rules of appellate procedure, before the environmental
groups can ask the Court of Appeals to issue an order preventing
construction during appeal, they must request the same relief from
the District Court.
The July 29 blog post came a day after the District Court refused a second time to prevent construction during the litigation. In this second decision, just two weeks after the first, the District Court ruled that its earlier analysis was correct.
The environmental groups can now bring to the Court of Appeals their request to prevent construction during the appeal.
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