News

The Justice Department will rename one of its divisions the Energy and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). The announcement was originally made yesterday by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of ENRD in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal.

Carlton Lenard Adams, of Bessemer and Adger, Alabama, was sentenced last month to 120 months in prison after pleading guilty in January to four counts of possessing dogs for fighting purposes and two counts of possessing firearms subsequent to a felony conviction. In addition to the prison sentence, the court also yesterday imposed a restitution of $548,449 for the costs of care of 78 pit bull-type dogs rescued in this investigation. At time of rescue, 78 dogs was the second-greatest number rescued from a single defendant in any federal case. 

The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland today dismissed a lawsuit challenging the National Marine Fisheries Service’s 2025 biological opinion and incidental take statement for oil and gas activities in the Gulf of America. The court held that the case is moot and that it lacks jurisdiction to proceed because the Endangered Species Committee exempted those activities from the requirements of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The dismissal was effective yesterday.

A North Carolina man was sentenced today to 28 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release in connection with his involvement with online groups dedicated to creating and distributing videos depicting acts of extreme violence and sexual abuse against monkeys. 

Today, the Justice Department, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WV DEP) announced a multi-state settlement with The Chemours Company under the Clean Water Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Toxic Substance Control Act, and West Virginia Water Pollution Control Act. The settlement covers four Chemours facilities — located in West Virginia, North Carolina, and New Jersey — that use or produce PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), which are synthetic “forever chemicals” used to make products resistant to water, grease

The Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) filed a motion to intervene and to dismiss a private citizen lawsuit seeking to power down a large artificial intelligence (AI) facility in Southaven, Mississippi.