The Second Circuit affirmed in part and remanded in part a lower court decision holding the corporate successor to a utility's former parent company liable for a portion of costs incurred cleaning up coal tar contamination at manufactured gas plant sites in upstate New York. The lower court held the...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision dismissing a Native American tribe's claim that DOI violated the APA in refusing to approve the tribe’s assignments of land to certain of its members. The tribe submitted the land assignment deeds to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for approval ...

The Third Circuit struck down New Jersey's Long Term Capacity Pilot Program Act, which was enacted in 2011 to encourage the construction of new power plants within the state. The program, known as "LCAPP", would add a cumulative 2,000 megawatts of capacity to the regional power grid from which New J...

The D.C. Circuit held that environmental groups have standing to challenge DOI's decision to remove the Blair Mountain Battlefield—the site of a large 1921 coal miner uprising in West Virginia—from the National Register of Historic Places. Shortly after the Battlefield was listed in 2009, the si...

A Michigan appellate court upheld the state environmental agency's decision to grant a groundwater discharge permit to a company in connection with its plan to develop an underground mine to extract nickel and copper from the sulfide ores beneath the headwaters of the Salmon Trout River. The permit,...

A Michigan appellate court upheld the state environmental agency's decision to grant mining and discharge permits to a company to develop an underground mine to extract nickel and copper from the sulfide ores beneath the headwaters of the Salmon Trout River. Environmental groups opposed the permits,...

A Colorado court held that the state's Oil and Gas Conservation Act preempts a city's five-year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing. The city is a "home-rule" city, meaning it has “the full right of self-government” on local and municipal matters. Nevertheless, a local ordinance that infringes on...

A Georgia appellate court held that the 25-foot buffer requirement set forth in Georgia’s Erosion and Sedimentation Act applies to all state waters and wetlands, not just those with vegetation wrested by normal stream flow or wave action. The case arose after environmental groups challenged a buff...

A district court held that a mining company allowed excessive amounts of selenium to be discharged from one of its surface coal mine operations in violation of the CWA and SMCRA. The company's state permit does not explicitly impose selenium limitations, but it does incorporate by reference state re...

The South Carolina Supreme Court held that the operator of a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility failed to comply with state groundwater protection regulations and must therefore submit a written plan for compliance or face potential revocation of its operating license. The operator first ...