The Court of Federal Claims entered judgment for the U.S. government in a takings challenge against FWS for rerouting spring waters that had previously flowed through church property into a restoration channel in an effort to save a native fish species. The church argued the berm FWS installed upstr...

The Ninth Circuit, 2-1, vacated summary judgment for a California city in a RCRA citizen suit brought by an environmental group. The group had argued the city's water wells were contaminated by hexavalent chromium that was in turn transported to city residents through its water distribution system. ...

The Second Circuit denied two petitions to review EPA's final rule restricting access by customers to methylene chloride. A solvent company challenged the rule, arguing that the method of restricting customer use was arbitrary and capricious because of its incidental impact on commercial uses, and t...

A district court dismissed a lawsuit concerning the city of Chicago’s delay in issuing an operating permit for a recycling facility in the city’s Southeast Side neighborhood. The company argued its constitutional rights were being violated as a result of the city’s delay of the permit review p...

The Fourth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for a county in South Carolina in a lawsuit concerning the county's alleged taking of honey sellers' bees. The sellers argued their bees died after the county sprayed pesticide in an effort to kill mosquitoes, and thus constituted a Fifth Amendment taking...

The D.C. Circuit vacated EPA's authorization of the pesticide aldicarb for use on oranges and grapefruit in Florida. EPA had moved to remand without vacatur. The court found the Agency itself acknowledged it did not make an effects determination as required by §7(a)(2) of the ESA, and that it admit...

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that a settlement of environmental liabilities must resolve a CERCLA-specific liability to give rise to a contribution action under §113(f)(3)(B), in a lawsuit concerning a landfill in Guam formerly owned by the U.S. Navy. After entering into a consent decree...

A district court granted summary judgment for a utility company in a lawsuit concerning groundwater discharges from coal ash ponds at its power plant in Kentucky. Environmental groups argued that the discharges threatened immediate and substantial environmental harm to a nearby lake and streams, in ...

The Ninth Circuit remanded, 2-1, a rule EPA promulgated in 2019 in response to the court's 2017 writ of mandamus directing the Agency to respond to the need for updated lead-based paint hazard standards. Nonprofit groups argued the rule violated provisions of the the Residential Lead-Based Paint Haz...

A district court dismissed a RCRA citizen suit brought against present and former owners of chemical plants for allegedly releasing radioactive slag deposited on landowners' properties in New York. The landowners sought injunctive relief under RCRA, including ordering the plant owners to evaluate ea...