The court held that it was appropriate for the National Park Service (NPS) to conduct a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis prior to granting property owners' request for an access permit under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). After the owners' home burned ...
A district court, in light of Rapanos v. United States, 126 S. Ct. 2208, 36 ELR 20116 (2006), dismissed a Clean Water Act citizen suit against a gun range for discharging lead shot into wetlands and a vernal pond bordering the navigable Farmington River in Connecticut. Applying Justice Antonin Scali...
The court held that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) erred in approving an amendment to Idaho's state implementation plan (SIP) that allowed farmers to burn the residue left in their fields after harvesting their crops. EPA grounded its approval on the premise that the preexisting Idah...
The court invalidated the "Tulloch II" rule, which governs when the use of mechanized earth-moving equipment that results in the discharge of dredged or fill material requires a Clean Water Act §404 permit. The original Tulloch rule defined the discharge of dredged material as "any addition of ...
The court affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court decision that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) violated the National Environmental Policy Act in issuing a developer a Clean Water Act (CWA) §404 permit to dredge and fill wetlands for a residential project. The Corps' fi...
The court held that a water district that voluntarily incurred costs cleaning up hazardous materials from its property in Chicago, Illinois, may seek recovery costs from a lessee under §107(a) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). Because the wat...
A district court denied an environmental group's motion for summary judgment on claims that a logging company violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) with respect to logging activities near a brook situated several miles upstream of Scotia, California. Contrary to assertions of the lumber company, the gr...
A district court denied landowners' motion for an interim award of attorneys fees and costs in connection with their Clean Water Act (CWA) action against a company for failing to obtain a CWA permit before conducting dredging activities at the Fawn River State Hatchery. At this stage of the litigati...
A district court held that a party potentially responsible for the cleanup of property contaminated by hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), but not able to bring an action for contribution under §113(f) of that statute, m...
The court upheld a Surface Transportation Board decision approving a railroad company's proposal to build approximately 240 miles of new rail line to reach the coal mines of Wyoming's Powder River Basin and to upgrade more than 600 miles of existing rail line in Minnesota and South Dakota. The board...