The court held that the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act in extending certain leases on land considered sacred to Native American tribes and in approving a geothermal plant to be built there by a California power company. The agenci...

The court reversed a lower court decision upholding the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM's) annual species review decisions for the red tree vole and its approval of certain timber sales in the Pacific Northwest. BLM's annual species review decisions for the red tree vole violate the Federal Land Po...

A California appellate court held that a water company may go forward with its strict liability claim against an oil company for methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) contamination stemming from gasoline leaks at nearby service stations. Although the oil company merely added the MTBE to the gasoline an...

A district court remanded portions of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS') critical habitat designation of over 800,000 acres of land in California and Oregon for 15 vernal pool species. The rule excluded 23 tracts of land that would either suffer from detrimental economic impacts or for whic...

The court remanded the U.S. government’s Clean Water Act suit against a group of cranberry farmers in Carver, Massachusetts, in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Rapanos v. United States, 126 S. Ct. 2208, 36 ELR 20116 (2006). Prior to Rapanos, the court had upheld jurisdiction over...

The court held that New Mexico may not go forward with their state-law claims for natural resource damages (NRDs) against two companies for groundwater contamination at the South Valley Superfund site. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act's (CERCLA’s) NRD s...

The court upheld U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations that require the owners of mobile-home parks and other manufactured housing complexes who submeter water to their tenants to comply with Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) regulations. Submetering allows property owners to meter and...

The court affirmed the denial of a property owner's motion to show cause as to why a junkyard operator had not implemented a legally sufficient stormwater pollution prevention plan pursuant to a prior court order, but it reversed the district court's denial of her motion to show cause as to why the ...

The court affirmed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA’s) final rulemaking action approving revisions to Kentucky’s state implementation plan (SIP) involving air quality standards under the Clean Air Act (CAA). The revisions allowed the state to move its vehicle inspection an...

The court held that associations of hazardous materials manufacturers, shippers, and transporters lacked standing to challenge a U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) rule defining when hazardous materials are being loaded, unloaded, or stored incidental to their movement, which largely controls w...