The court vacates a district court decision holding that owners of property surrounded by a national forest in West Virginia do not have an express or implied easement to use a U.S. Forest Service road that provides the sole access to their property. The owners' predecessors conveyed 742 acres of la...

The court holds that a company failed to meet its burden of proving the divisibility of response costs at a New Jersey Superfund site and, thus, is responsible for all of the response costs associated with one phase of remediation at the site. The company argued that the response costs are divisible...

The court holds that a salmon farmer is liable under the Clean Water Act (CWA) for discharging pollutants without a national pollution discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit in Machias and Pleasant Bays off the coast of Maine. The court first holds that, based on the undisputed facts and the br...

The court holds that a gas and electric company violated the Clean Air Act (CAA) by failing to obtain a preconstruction permit before making modifications to its facility even though there were no actual increases in emissions of pollutants after the changes were made. Based on the CAA and its imple...

The court affirms in part and reverses in part a district court holding that the U.S. government waived its sovereign immunity under Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) §120(a)(1), that the government was liable as a CERCLA §107(a)(3) arranger for the dis...

The court vacates a jury verdict finding an aviation repair station guilty of recklessly causing the transportation of hazardous material in air commerce. The case arose after the 1996 airplane crash in the Florida Everglades. The court first holds that the reckless counts are invalid. The governmen...

The court holds that a paper and pulp company unreasonably failed to provide a timely response to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) §104(e) information request regarding the identification, nature, quantity, g...

The court holds that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) exceeded its authority in extending jurisdiction over property that contains wetlands in light of its own regulations and the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ...

The court holds that an equestrian center discharged fill to wetlands that were within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' jurisdiction, and, thus, the center violated Clean Water Act (CWA) §301 by discharging sand to the wetlands without a permit. The center argued that under Solid Waste Agency of N...

The court holds that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. United States Army Corps of Engineers, 531 U.S. 159, 31 ELR 20382 (2001) (SWANCC), did not fundamentally or significantly change the law governing a development company's conviction for dischargin...