The court reverses a district court decision holding that two environmental groups lacked standing to bring citizen suits against a lumber company for violating its Clean Water Act (CWA) national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit. The district court held that spatial and temporal...
ELR Digest
The court holds that a manufacturer seeking to recover response costs it incurred at a Connecticut site cannot bring a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) §107 cost recovery action against other potentially responsible parties (PRPs), but that ...
The court upholds the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) issuance of a total maximum daily load (TMDL) of 0.013 parts per quadrillion (ppq) for dioxin in the Columbia River. The court first holds that EPA's decision is supported by substantial evidence, and rejects plaintiff citizen grou...
The court holds that a district court erred when it declined to order a corporation to adhere to the terms of a settlement agreement it reached with a city regarding the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and state-law cost recovery claims. The city sought...
The court holds that citizen groups have standing to sue to set aside a land exchange between the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and a mining company that violated the Federal Land Policy and Management Act's (FLPMA's) valuation requirements. The court first holds that the groups have standing. The...
The Eleventh Circuit held that the Miami Seaquarium’s treatment of a captive orca named Lolita doesn’t seriously threaten her life. Animal activists sued the aquarium, alleging it is perpetrating an unlawful “take” by “harm[ing]” or “harass[ing]” Lolita in violation of the ESA. A dis...
The D.C. Circuit denied environmentalists' attempt to challenge an NRC decision to issue a uranium mining license in Wyoming. The mining company sought a license from NRC to mine uranium at the Ross Project in Crook County, Wyoming. NRC conducted an EIS and granted the license. Environmental groups ...
The Federal Circuit upheld rulings by the U.S. Court of International Trade and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) that imports of solar cells from China harmed U.S. producers. American solar producers filed petitions with the Department of Commerce seeking antidumping duties on Chinese s...
The court enjoins the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from authorizing future projects under nationwide permits (NWPs) 13, 14, and 26 within the range of the ferruginous pygmy owl in Arizona until the Corps supplements the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis performed in the environmental...
The court holds that residents' challenge to a local zoning board's grant of a use variance to a developer for the construction of 20 condominiums and boat slips on waterfront property is moot. The site was formerly used as a marina, but ultimately went into bankruptcy. The residents challenged the ...