A district court vacated the National Park Service's (NPS') 2001 "snowcoach rule" that bans the use of snowmobiles in the Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. The court determined that the rule was the product of a "prejudged, political decision to ban snowmobiles from all the National Parks....

The Ninth Circuit held that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' record of decision for its operation of four dams on the lower Snake River complied with Washington State's water quality standards for temperature. The Corps' conclusion that its operation of the dams, as opposed to the existence of the ...

The Eleventh Circuit upheld a jury verdict finding a company liable under the CWA and RCRA for contaminating landowners' property, but reversed the jury's award of compensatory and punitive damages on the landowners' nuisance claim. Contrary to the company's arguments, the landowners had standing to...

The Ninth Circuit held that water agencies were entitled to fees and costs under the ESA even though their underlying suit was dismissed as moot. In the suit below, the agencies argued that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) violated the ESA when it designated certain lands in California a...

The Ninth Circuit held that the U.S. Navy need not review the probable significant environmental impacts of an accidental explosion of a missile during operations at its submarine base in Bangor, Washington, under the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), and that it does not need to consult...

The Sixth Circuit affirmed a lower court summary judgment decision and consequent imposition of approximately $1.9 million in civil penalties against an individual for failing to adequately respond to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's request for information under §104 of the Comprehen...

The Tenth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision that the DOT did not violate NEPA by approving two highway improvement plans since the record of decision supplied a rational connection between the facts and the DOT's decision, and because the EIS indicated that the DOT took the required "hard look...

The Fifth Circuit granted an environmental group's petition for review of a revised SIP for the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, ozone nonattainment area in which EPA approved reductions outside the Baton Rouge area as a substitute contingency measure. EPA's approval of the contingency measure was a reasonab...

The Eighth Circuit upheld a district court decision granting summary judgment to the National Park Service (NPS) on an association's complaint seeking to enjoin the NPS' decision to open 11 bays of the Voyageurs National Park to recreational snowmobile use. The NPS did not decide to open the bays to...

The Seventh Circuit reversed a district court decision dismissing environmental group's Clean Water Act citizen suit against a local sewerage district. The group's claim concerned sanitary sewer overflows that occurred between 1994 and 2001 in violation of the state's pretreatment standards for wast...