The court holds that a petroleum company may not recover cleanup costs from the government under Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) §311(i)(1) for an oil spill into a creek caused by the rupture of an oil pipeline during a flood, since the petroleum company did not exercise reasonable care...

The court holds that the automatic stay provision of the Bankruptcy Code, 11 U.S.C. §362(a)(1), does not entitle a debtor in possession to an automatic stay of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) litigation to obtain injunctive relief, response costs, punitive damages, and civil penalties under t...

The court rules that where the Corps of Engineers' assertion of jurisdiction pursuant to §404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act is challenged in an action against the Corps or in an enforcement action brought by the Corps, the jurisdictional question shall be determined by the trial court ...

The court holds that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), in its preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS) and management framework plan (MFP) for livestock grazing in the Reno, Nevada, area, did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Federal Land Policy and Manag...

The court makes various procedural rulings in an action by the state of Missouri seeking recovery of response costs under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the common law of public nuisance for the improper disposal of hazardous wastes in Times Be...

The court holds that the "state standard limitation" in the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) final lead phasedown regulations is reasonable. The regulations allow gasoline producers who bring their gasoline lead content below that required by federal law to "bank" those credits and use them...

The court holds that the Corps of Engineers' supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) for the Elk Creek Dam project in Oregon is deficient because its wildlife mitigation plan is incomplete, it fails to take into account new information acquired since the original EIS was prepared, and fai...

On rehearing en banc, the court holds that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) improperly considered cost and technological feasibility factors in determining safety levels for vinyl chloride emissions under Clean Air Act §112. The court initially holds that the Natural Resource Defense Counc...

The court upholds substantially all of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit regulations under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA), but holds that EPA lacks the authority under the FWPCA or the National Environmental ...

The court holds that placer mining operations disturbing five acres or less of public lands are not federal actions under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and thus the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is not required to perform environmental assessments (EAs) and subsistence studies befo...