The Ninth Circuit held that the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act did not limit the Park Service from applying the hovercraft ban on the Nation River in the Yukon-Charley preserve. A plaintiff sought to use his hovercraft in a national preserve to reach moose hunting grounds. While sta...

The Fifth Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) safety regulations do not apply to contractors, subcontractors or service providers. The case concerned a fatal explosion during "hot work" on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico that killed three workers ...

The court holds that a developer that leased housing to the U.S. Department of the Navy (Navy) must pay an annual solid waste service charge (SWSC) assessed by a Maryland county where the housing is located. The court first holds that the developer is the proper party to pay the SWSC. The developer ...

The court reverses a district court holding that the Clean Water Act (CWA) only allows the Secretary of the U.S. Army to delegate authority to issue CWA §404's discharge permits to the Chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The district court dismissed indictment counts against a pipeline compa...

The court holds that a district court properly denied environmental groups' and an individual's motion to intervene in private landowners' lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service challenging its authority to regulate the Sylvania Wilderness Area in upper Michigan. The court first holds that the dist...

The court affirms a trial court holding that the doctrine of res judicata barred a state environmental agency's enforcement action against a food processor for violating its state pollution elimination system permit. After the state agency imposed more stringent limitations on phosphate discharges t...

The court affirms a district court decision denying the federal government's claim for reserved water rights in connection with approximately 94 islands distributed along the Snake River within the Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge. In order to determine if there is a federal reserved right, there ...

No recreational easement exists in favor of the general public on a privately owned sand dune above the vegetation line, and defendants can continue development and construction of a condominium housing project on the site. Plaintiff failed to prove the clear and positive existence of such a prescri...

The Oregon Court of Appeals affirms a lower court ruling denying declaratory or injunctive relief in a suit seeking to establish public recreational rights in a privately owned sand dune that is located above the vegetation line and on which defendants intend to construct a condominium project. The ...

The court dismisses for lack of notice a neighborhood group's third-party Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) complaint against three federal agencies that are the alleged successors to a former tin smelter that emitted arsenic into the environment. The group filed the third-party complain...