The court grants in part and denies in part summary judgment motions by a corporation being sued by neighboring property owners who allege that trichloroethylene (TCE) from the corporation's subsidiary contaminated their soil, groundwater, and domestic water supplies. The court first holds that alth...

The court affirms a district court grant of summary judgment to the U.S. Forest Service (Forest Service) that barred a snowmobile association's challenge to the closure of certain areas of the Lolo National Forest to motorized vehicle use. The district court barred the association's suit under 28 U....

The court denies a property owner's petition to review the Federal Aviation Administration's and the Federal Highway Administration's selection of and subsequent issuance of a finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for a highway accessing a new terminal at Philadelphia International Airport. A por...

The court reverses a lower court decision and holds that private operators of hydropower projects at federally owned dams on the Lower Fox River in Wisconsin do not owe the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) $338,984 in charges for headwater benefits realized at the projects as a consequenc...

The court grants summary judgment in favor of the National Park Service (NPS) in a city's lawsuit alleging that NPS violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA), and several other statutes in connection with its envir...

The court dismisses Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), Occcupational Safety and Health Administration Act (OSHA Act), and 42 U.S.C. §1983 claims filed against a school district by school employees who were exposed to unknown toxic fumes and suffered dama...

The court holds that Clean Water Act (CWA) §404 does not allow the filling of U.S. waters solely for waste disposal, and, therefore, enjoined the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from issuing any further permits allowing the valley fill of overburden waste from mountaintop removal. The court first hold...

The Fifth Circuit stayed a preliminary injunction that barred a company from constructing a crude oil pipeline through the environmentally sensitive Atchafalaya Basin. An environmental group claimed that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers unlawfully issued a permit allowing the construction, and a low...

In a 259-page opinion, a federal claims court held that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for causing recurrent flooding along the Missouri River. Farmers, landowners, and business owners filed takings claims against the government, arguing that the Corps' management of the Missouri Ri...

The U.S. Supreme Court held that the United States may pursue claims against New Mexico for violating the Rio Grande Compact, which Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas entered into in the 1930s to resolve disputes over water rights. Texas filed suit alleging that New Mexico was allowing its residents to...