The court holds that 40 C.F.R. Part 85, which deals with the determination of vehicle model years for states voluntarily choosing to adopt restrictive vehicle emission standards under Clean Air Act §177, is severable from the rest of a previously vacated U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) r...

The court holds that hydraulic fracturing activities performed in Alabama fall within the definition of underground injection and, therefore, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must regulate them under the underground injection control (UIC) programs pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water A...

The court holds that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) was correct in denying the Skokomish Indian Tribe's application for a preliminary permit to develop a hydropower facility, because the intended project conflicted with a relicensing application submitted by the city of Tacoma, Wash...

The court holds that the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's management plan for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) does not unduly limit access to the BWCA, nor does it permit excessive motorized boat use in the BWCA. The court first holds that the management plan's defi...

The court holds that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' (the Corps') denial of a real estate developer's application for a Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) §404 permit to dredge and fill lakebottom property was not a compensable taking under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. T...

The court holds that the six-year limitations period in §113(g)(2) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) governs the contribution claims of potentially responsible parties (PRPs) who incurred cleanup costs pursuant to a CERCLA §106 unilateral adminis...

The court affirms a district court decision that the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to recover costs expended in overseeing a hazardous waste cleanup that was conducted by private parties. The c...

The court holds that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) failed to exercise its mandatory duty under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) to "promptly prepare and publish" federal regulations in lieu of state regulations when Idaho neglected to revise its water quality standard...

The court holds that a Surface Transportation Board (STB) $150 fee on requests to use or acquire proposed-to-be-abandoned railroad rights-of-way for interim recreational trail use and rail banking is not arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise contrary to law. The court first hol...

The court holds that the U.S. Forest Service timber sale in Medicine Bow National Forest properly complied with the "brief statement" and "reasonable time" requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The court first holds that the Forest Service decision approving the timber sale was not...