The Ninth Circuit held that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when it developed a land use plan covering a large portion of Oregon. The environmental group challenging the plan argued that BLM failed to properly analyze the plan's effects on la...

A district court held that a company that purchased several paper mills and associated properties in 1972 did not assume any liability under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) for the costs of cleaning up environmental contamination at the sites. CERCL...

A district court held that the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in approving exploratory gas and oil drilling on a parcel of land within the Huron-Manistee National Forest. The agencies acted arbitrarily and capriciously in findi...

The D.C. Circuit upheld the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's denial of a petition to list the westslope cutthroat trout as a threatened species based on its interbreeding with other trout species. Environmental groups argued that the government's decision not to list the species was arbitrary and ca...

The Tenth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision denying environmental groups' motion to preliminarily enjoin the construction of a natural gas pipeline through roadless national forest land. The groups failed to show a substantial likelihood of success as to their claim that the Bureau of Land Man...

The Fifth Circuit reversed a lower court decision holding the owner of a wood treatment plant negligent for releasing cancer-causing contaminants into the environment along with its award of $785,000 in damages in favor of the daughter of a neighboring homeowner who died of breast cancer. State law ...

The Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court's refusal to preliminarily enjoin a timber project calling for the selective logging of 3,829 acres of forest in the Idaho Panhandle National Forest. Based on the court's holding in Ecology Center, Inc. v. Austin, 430 F.3d 1057, 35 ELR 20248 (9th Cir. 2005), en...

A district court denied gasoline companies' motion to dismiss Puerto Rico's Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) claim against them for allegedly contaminating the commonwealth's surface waters and groundwater with methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). The com...

The Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court decision denying individuals' motion to dismiss their indictments for possessing feathers and talons of bald and golden eagles and other migratory birds without a permit in violation of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act....

The Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court decision in favor of community groups who filed a Clean Air Act (CAA) citizen suit against California state officials in which they challenged both the process by which California obtained the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's approval of its state imple...