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...
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...
The Ninth Circuit granted, 2-1, environmental groups' petitions to review EPA's 2017 decision denying their 2007 petition seeking to revoke all tolerances and registrations for the insecticide chlorpyrifos and its 2019 decision denying all objections to the 2017 decision. In their 2007 petition, the...
A district court granted nonprofit groups' motion for summary judgment in a challenge to EPA's denial of their petitions to initiate TSCA rulemaking to expand its information-gathering process regarding asbestos-related health risks. The groups argued that EPA's denial of their petitions was arbitra...
A California appellate court upheld the state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment's (OEHHA's) decision to list bisphenol A (BPA) as a chemical known to cause reproductive toxicity under the state Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act. An industry group sought to enjoin the listi...
The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court ruling in a lawsuit concerning the U.S. government's and California's recovery of cleanup costs from a hazardous waste spill in the Sierra Nevada foothills that released toxic amounts of arsenic into local groundwater. Plaintiffs sued the company that had acq...