The Eleventh Circuit held that the Miami Seaquarium’s treatment of a captive orca named Lolita doesn’t seriously threaten her life. Animal activists sued the aquarium, alleging it is perpetrating an unlawful “take” by “harm[ing]” or “harass[ing]” Lolita in violation of the ESA. A dis...

The D.C. Circuit denied environmentalists' attempt to challenge an NRC decision to issue a uranium mining license in Wyoming. The mining company sought a license from NRC to mine uranium at the Ross Project in Crook County, Wyoming. NRC conducted an EIS and granted the license. Environmental groups ...

The Federal Circuit upheld rulings by the U.S. Court of International Trade and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) that imports of solar cells from China harmed U.S. producers. American solar producers filed petitions with the Department of Commerce seeking antidumping duties on Chinese s...

The court enjoins the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from authorizing future projects under nationwide permits (NWPs) 13, 14, and 26 within the range of the ferruginous pygmy owl in Arizona until the Corps supplements the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis performed in the environmental...

The court holds that residents' challenge to a local zoning board's grant of a use variance to a developer for the construction of 20 condominiums and boat slips on waterfront property is moot. The site was formerly used as a marina, but ultimately went into bankruptcy. The residents challenged the ...

The court holds that a district court improperly relieved previous owners of property contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE) of any liability under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) for the property's cleanup. After purchasing the property, the cur...

The court holds that an Ohio property owner could seek Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) §113 contribution, but not CERCLA §107 cost recovery from the previous owner of the property, and that the previous owner was not entitled to summary judgment on th...

The Ninth Circuit held that FWS did not violate the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) when it authorized the taking of the barred owl to help the recovery of the spotted owl. The spotted owl was listed as endangered under the ESA in 1990, and it was later determined that one of the factors affecting ...

The Court of Federal Claims held that a land owner is entitled to compensation for wells and an access road installed to monitor contamination on a property adjacent to Fort Detrick. A Maryland landowner was faced with a demand under CERCLA from EPA for access to his property to install wells for th...

The Tenth Circuit held that the Forest Service does not have to fulfill an environmental group's FOIA request for documents created by a third-party contractor related to a land exchange in Colorado. At the center of the case was an agreement between a developer and the Forest Service to exchange pr...