The court holds that cattle grazers that willfully and illegally grazed their livestock in the Humboldt National Forest in Nevada have not acquired vested grazing rights through the common-law common of pasturage doctrine, have trespassed, and do not properly assert the common-law necessity defense ...

The court rules on plaintiff environmental groups' and defendant city's cross-motions for summary judgment on numerous alleged violations of two national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permits at the city's wastewater treatment plants in Kailua and Kaneohe, Hawaii. Plaintiffs alleged...

The court holds that the seller of a lead smelting facility must indemnify the facility's purchaser for the purchaser's Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) liability at a site to which the purchaser sent spent batteries to be broken up before smelting them ...

The court holds that a plaintiff property owner in a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) §7002(b)(2)(A) citizen suit against the owner of an adjacent service station for damages from petroleum contamination failed to meet §7002(b)(2)(A)'s 90-day notice of endangerment requirement. The co...

The court holds that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) preempts state-law inadequate labeling or warnings claims a consumer brought against the manufacturer of an acid cleaner to which the consumer had an allergic reaction. The court first notes that the federal circuit...

The court holds that a demolition contractor that allegedly failed to issue a notice of intent to demolish a condemned garage, to wet asbestos during the demolition, and to prevent the discharge of visible emissions of asbestos, did not violate the 1988 asbestos national emissions standards for haza...

The court holds that a genuine issue of material fact as to whether prior owners of a contaminated site and their paint company tenant were responsible persons under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) precludes summary judgment on their liability. The ...

The court holds that there are no genuine issues of material fact in a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) citizen suit brought by former employees at the "Groom Lake" classified U.S. Air Force facility alleging that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) violated RCRA by failing t...

The court holds that a municipal potentially responsible party may assert a common-law negligence claim against a response-action contractor, but must bring a contribution claim, rather than a cost recovery claim, under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCL...

The court holds that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when it failed to discuss in a supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) its transportation program for endangered and threatened salmon species in the Columbia and...