A district court held that EPA's approval of a sediments and total suspended solids (TSS) TMDL for the Anacostia River in Maryland and Washington, D.C., was arbitrary and capricious. When developing a TMDL for a particular pollutant, the CWA and its implementing regulations require the state—in de...

The Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of a dry cleaner's CERCLA and tort law claims against the manufacturer of dry cleaning equipment. The dry cleaner failed to present evidence giving rise to a genuine dispute as to any material fact with respect to its CERCLA claim. A person may be subject t...

The Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of a shopping center owner's citizen suit action under RCRA against manufacturers of dry cleaning equipment. The owner argued that the manufacturers contributed to the release of hazardous waste into the environment by virtue of their machinery, which was a...

A district court granted a city's motion to dismiss a company's third-party complaint against it for reimbursement of cleanup costs the U.S. government incurred responding to hazardous substances at an industrial site formerly owned by the company. The government filed suit against the company under...

The D.C. Circuit denied trade associations' petition for review of a nationwide permit issued by EPA for the discharge of pollutants incidental to the normal operation of vessels. The associations, which represent commercial ship owners and operators, raised a number of procedural challenges, al...

A Washington appellate court affirmed a lower court decision holding the state transportation agency liable to two utilities for contribution costs incurred at the Thea Foss Waterway, a Superfund site, under the state's Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA). The agency argued that the lower court erred in...

A district court held that the current owner of a service station may be held liable under CERCLA for the actions of its predecessor and therefore dismissed the owner's motion for summary judgment. The owner's predecessor allegedly generated and then disposed of waste oil at the site between...

A district court dismissed a city's CERCLA §107(a) suit against the United States to recover past and future response costs incurred at the former Schilling Air Force Base area in Salina, Kansas. CERCLA §113(h) bars challenges to ongoing response actions being taken under §104. Here, the ...

A district court held that utilities who sold used transformers to a scrap metal company in the 1970s are not liable under CERCLA or the Connecticut Environmental Protection Act. After Connecticut's environmental department discovered PCB contamination on the property, the current owner of t...

The Federal Circuit held that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' temporary deviations from the water release rates set forth in an operating plan for the Clearwater Dam that caused increased flooding in Arkansas' Dave Donaldson Black River Wildlife Management Area, which in turn caused excess...