The court holds that a power company was not required to obtain Federal Water Pollution Control Act §401(a)(1) certification from North Carolina before obtaining a license amendment that allowed the company to add an intake pipeline structure to a power project in a lake that is partly within the s...

The court imposes a $405,800 civil penalty against the owner and operator of a hazardous waste incinerator for violating the mercury discharge limit and the monitoring and reporting requirements of its 1987 national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit. The court first holds that an...

The court holds that the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) does not apply to the federal government. The court first holds that the U.S. Forest Service's appeal of an MBTA-based preliminary injunction to stop all government-approved timber-cutting and road-building activities in seven timber projects...

The court refuses to certify for interlocutory appeal questions on the standard of due care required under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act's (CERCLA's) third-party defense and on whether CERCLA preempts state law on a dissolved corporation's capacity to be s...

The court holds that two environmental groups are entitled to a waiver of duplication fees for documents they requested from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) under the Freedom of Information Act. The groups had requested the administrative record of the FWS' decision not to list the western ...

The court holds moot an environmental group's claim that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated §7(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act by failing to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) on the possible impact of a wilderness study area management schedule on the threatened We...

The court holds that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by failing to designate critical habitat for the threatened coastal California gnatcatcher and by failing to justify its use of the imprudence exception to the ESA. The court first holds that FWS'...

The court holds that the Secretary of Commerce acted within the scope of his broad discretion in adopting an amendment to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan that reduces groundfish mortality due to fishing to almost zero. The court first holds that plaintiff commercial fishing organi...

The court holds that genuine issues of material fact exist as to whether a waste oil shipment to an oil refining company may have contained polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in violation of the Toxic Substances Control Act. The oil refining company alleged that a utility company sent 25 shipments of ...

The court affirms a district court decision that Texas' motion to intervene in a suit challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's withdrawal of a proposal to list the Barton Springs salamander as an endangered species was untimely. Texas has offered no plausible explanation why it delayed nearl...