The court affirms a lower court decision ordering an insurance company to pay restitution to the state of Vermont for costs incurred in the investigation and cleanup of an underground petroleum leak. After an underground petroleum tank was found to be contaminating a town's drinking water, the state...

The court reverses the granting of a permit to a public marina owner who sought to convert the marina from rental properties into privately owned units, known as dockominiums, which are similar to condominiums. The state environmental agency maintained that the marina owner had to apply for a new pe...

The court holds that under Pennsylvania law a surface and underground coal mining general liability insurance carrier has not duty to notify the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) prior to cancelling an insurance policy unless a notification provision is included in the policy...

The court holds that it lacks jurisdiction to grant an individual's motion to dismiss a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency order issued to the individual regarding his failure to comply with federal regulations while conducting an asbestos removal. The court first holds that the order issued to th...

The court reverses an appellate court decision that a hotel did not need to obtain a conditional use permit before converting from residential to strictly tourist use and that a conversion fee required by the San Francisco Hotel Conversion Ordinance (HCO) constituted a taking. Although the hotel ren...

The court holds that California water users' contractually conferred rights to use water in the Tulare Lake Basin were taken from them when the federal government imposed water use restrictions under the Endangered Species Act, and, therefore, the users may seek compensation for their loss. The case...

The court upholds a district court's dismissal of landowners' Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) claims for response costs from a lead smelter for property contamination in Omaha, Nebraska. The district court dismissed the landowners' class action suit aga...

On January 15, 1973, respondent filed a complaint in the district court seeking to compel the petitioner, an Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, to allot among the states the full sums authorized to be appropriated for fiscal years 1973 and 1974 by §207 of the Federal Water Pollut...

The D.C. Circuit held that the USDA's decision to alter territorial lines of the Devil's Garden Wild Horse Territory section of the Modoc National Forest was in violation of NEPA. Since 1975, the United States Forest Service has protected and managed wild horses in the Devil’s Garden section in No...

The D.C. Circuit held that the USDA did not violate the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) when it renewed the licenses of animal exhibitors the agency knew was in violation of numerous animal welfare requirements. Animal activists brought suit against the agency, challenging its renewal of a license to an Io...