The Ninth Circuit held that ESA §§7 and 9, as applied to the California delta smelt, do not violate the Commerce Clause. In 2008, the FWS issued a biological opinion (BiOp) to the Bureau of Reclamation concerning two federal and state water diversion projects in California's Central Valley...

The Ninth Circuit upheld, on statutory and constitutional grounds, California's vessel fuel rules as they apply to vessels located more than three miles off the California coast. The rules, which seek to reduce air pollutants affecting the state of California, require ocean-going vessels to ...

The First Circuit, in a case of first impression, vacated a lower court decision that it should abstain from hearing a RCRA citizen suit concerning the cleanup of contamination caused by leaking USTs at a former gasoline filling station in Puerto Rico. The pendency of parallel state administ...

The Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court decision dismissing a Peruvian Achuar indigenous group's lawsuit against an oil company for environmental contamination and the release of hazardous wastes. The complaint alleges that, during its 30 years in the Achuar territories, the oil company kno...

A district court held that environmental groups lack standing to challenge three decisions by the BLM and a decision by the Interior Board of Land Appeals concerning 39 federal oil and gas leases in Utah. The groups do not have standing because they have not shown that their members have suf...

The Seventh Circuit held that an environmental group has standing to challenge a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit allowing 18.4 acres of wetlands in a state park to be destroyed to make way for a landfill. A lower court held that the group lacked standing and therefore dismissed the case. It...

The First Circuit upheld the dismissal of a developer's federal takings claim against two state agencies for restricting its development of a coastal residential subdivision in Rhode Island. In Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City, 473 U.S. 172 (19...

The Federal Claims court denied a mining company's motion and the government's cross-motion for summary judgment in a Fifth Amendment takings claim stemming from various CERCLA remediation actions taken at the mine. The company argued that the government effectively denied access to parts of the min...

A Michigan appellate court affirmed a lower court decision that res judicata bars a landowner's CERCLA, tort, and state law actions against a neighboring gasoline station for response costs and other monetary damages. The property owner originally filed suit in 1995, but the case was settled...

The First Circuit held that property owners have standing to challenge a settlement agreement entered into between a town and a telecommunications company over the construction of a 100-foot cell phone tower. The town board initially denied the company's application for a zoning variance. The c...