The court held that the U.S. Forest Service's approval of a ski resort expansion in the Coconino National Forest violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and National Environmental Policy Act. As a part of the expansion, the agency approved the proposed use of recycled sewage effluent t...

The court reversed a lower court's grant of summary judgment in favor of environmental groups in their case against a salt company for discharging, without a Clean Water Act (CWA) permit, salt production waste into a pond located next to Mowry Slough, which directly connects to the San Francisco Bay...

The court reversed a lower court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in a case brought by environmental groups claiming the agency shirked its duty to obtain appropriate pollution limitations at a power plant it operates in Tennessee. The TVA argued that the ...

The Tenth Circuit dismissed environmental groups' suit to compel the U.S. Forest Service to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) as to whether the national forest land and resource management plans (LRMPs) for the Carson and Santa Fe National Forests may jeopardize the continued exi...

A district court dismissed an environmental group's lawsuit challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) handling of the national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permitting process for a pulp and paper mill in Florida. Although the state possesses the primary authori...

A district court held that a company that owned a laundry facility for less than 24 hours before selling it to another entity is not liable under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) for PCE (or perchloroethylene) contamination on the property. The compa...

A district court dismissed a family's claims that a developer exposed them to contaminated land and failed to disclose material facts about their home and property in violation of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and Maryland law. The family alleged that the ...

The court upheld a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) rule listing the Alabama sturgeon as endangered. The court rejected claims that the FWS failed to rely on the best scientific data available in its listing decision. Nor did the FWS violate the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by listing the specie...

The court upheld the dismissal of property owners' Clean Water Act (CWA) citizen suit against several companies for pollution allegedly stemming from the wrongful and illegal construction, reconstruction, operation, and maintenance of numerous oil and gas operations in southeastern Oklahoma. Individ...

The court upheld the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS') decision not to classify the western gray squirrel in Washington State as an endangered distinct population segment (DPS) under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Because the ESA does not expressly define "distinct population segment," the ...