A California appellate court reversed and remanded a lower court decision denying water districts' motion to amend a 1961 judgment that imposed a "physical solution" on the West Coast groundwater basin. The districts wanted to store water in underground dewatered storage spaces of the basin that...

A district court dismissed environmental groups' action against EPA seeking the regulation of lead shot and bullets under TSCA. In August 2010, the group petitioned EPA to regulate lead shot, bullets, and fishing sinkers under the Act. EPA denied the requests in two separate letters: one concern...

A district court held that the owner of PCB-contaminated property is not entitled to injunctive relief under RCRA compelling the former owner to either pay for future cleanup costs at the property or take over remediation in its entirety. Injunctive relief is not available when abatement of the ...

The Ninth Circuit reversed in part a lower court decision upholding a "Clean Truck Program" adopted by a California port designed in part to reduce emissions related to port operations, including emissions from trucks. The concession agreements implementing the plan set forth a number of provisi...

The Federal Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court decision granting the buyer and seller of an energy company damages for the U.S. government's ongoing breach of its contractual obligation to collect and dispose of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) generated at a nuclear plant in Plymou...

A district court held that BLM's EISs associated with the Craters of the Moon and Pinedale resource management plans (RMPs) failed to adequately analyze impacts to the sage-grouse in violation of NEPA. The Craters of the Moon EIS did not discuss in any manner alternatives that reduced grazing short...

The Supreme Court of Ohio held that the territory of Lake Erie held in trust by the state of Ohio extends to the natural shoreline, which is the line at which the water usually stands when free from disturbing causes. Case law from 1878 and 1916, as well as the Fleming Act, enacted by the Ohio G...

The Supreme Court of South Carolina held that the South Carolina Solid Waste Policy and Management Act (SWPMA) does not preempt a county ordinance requiring solid waste generated within the county to be deposited at a county or county-approved landfill. A hauling company and a landfill that oper...

The Federal Circuit affirmed a lower court decision that a farmer committed patent infringement when he planted second-generation "commodity seeds" that contained genetically altered seeds covered by a patent. The seed manufacturer restricts the use of its patented seeds to a single crop season....

The Eleventh Circuit affirmed a lower court decision dismissing individuals' claims that a city violated its NPDES permit for municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s). They alleged that the city's MS4 discharges into an estuary are causing and contributing to ongoing violations of the water...