The Ninth Circuit vacated dismissal of a Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) lawsuit brought against the U.S. government concerning pollution from an abandoned military facility in Alaska. A resident argued that her property was contaminated by hazardous chemicals negligently released from the facility, ...
The Third Circuit held that a PRP's settlement with New Jersey resolving its state-law liability in connection with contamination at a municipal landfill did not protect the party from lawsuits seeking contribution toward expenditures made by EPA on the same site. The district court had concluded th...
The Second Circuit vacated a final rule published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that reversed the agency's 2016 civil penalty increase for noncompliance with Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. States and environmental groups argued NHTSA erroneously conc...
The First Circuit amended a previous ruling vacating an air permit issued by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP) for a proposed natural gas compressor station that is part of a pipeline connecting the northeastern United States and Canada. The court had found that MDEP fa...
A district court denied summary judgment for environmental groups in a challenge to the Forest Service's approval of a tree-thinning project in Los Padres National Forest. The groups argued that the Service violated NEPA by failing to properly analyze the risk to endangered California condors before...
The Tenth Circuit affirmed dismissal of a challenge brought by an environmental group concerning conservation of the lesser prairie chicken. The group had argued that FWS unreasonably delayed submitting to Congress a 2003 policy concerning conservation efforts when making listing decisions under the...
The Third Circuit granted a petition to review EPA's approval of Pennsylvania's proposed NAAQS for ozone. An environmental group argued the standards wrongly claimed to reduce pollution output at the state's most advanced coal-burning power plants while "simply rubberstamping an average of current p...
The Washington Supreme Court upheld the Department of Ecology's rule that set a summertime minimum instream-flow rate for the Spokane River at 850 cubic feet per second (cfs). Environmental groups challenged the validity of the flow rate, arguing that setting minimum flows at 850 cfs exceeded the De...
The Maine Supreme Court held unconstitutional a state ballot initiative that proposed to reverse a Maine Public Utilities Commission order granting a certificate of public convenience and necessity for a 145-mile transmission line in New England. A power company argued the initiative violated the Ma...
A district court granted summary judgment for conservation groups in a lawsuit alleging that the Army Corps of Engineers' continued operation and maintenance of a flood control project in the Pacific Northwest violated the ESA. The groups argued the Corps was violating §7(a)(2) by operating and mai...