The court denies a petition for rehearing en banc of the court's decision in Northwest Environmental Advocates v. City of Portland, 25 ELR 21250 (1995). In that decision, the court held that Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) citizen suits may be brought to enforce state water quality stand...

The court holds that a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) §107 claim by a buyer of contaminated property against the seller is not so patently without merit as to deprive the district court of subject matter jurisdiciton, even though an agreement between ...

The court holds that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) did not violate the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) by issuing an FWPCA §404 permit to fill wetlands at a proposed thoroughbred racetrack. An environmental group seeking a temporary restraining order or a preliminary inju...

The court affirms the conviction under the Lacey Act of a commercial fisher who sold in interstate commerce over 100 pounds of catfish caught with a seine net in violation of a Wisconsin regulation. The court first notes that the state regulation is permissive. The regulation prohibits commercial fi...

The court holds that the Eleventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not bar marina owners' Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) citizen suit for damages and an injunction against a thruway authority and a municipality for alleged discharges of pollutants into a bay. The court first hold...

The court holds that an indictment alleging that a plywood manufacturer violated the Clean Air Act (CAA) by knowingly falsifying continuous opacity monitoring system (COMS) reports and tampering with COMS equipment that a 1988 state permit required charges federal crimes. The court first rejects the...

The court holds that the unreasonableness, excessiveness, duplicativeness, impropriety, and non-cost-effectiveness of response costs are not defenses to a cost recovery action under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) if defendants fail to prove that su...

The court holds that the U.S. government may not recover, as either removal or remedial costs under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), oversight costs it incurred in monitoring private-party cleanup of hazardous waste at the Taylor Borough site in Pen...

The court holds that federal maritime law preempts a Maryland statute that imposes strict liability for damaging natural oyster bars, as it applies to the grounding and re-floating of a barge in tidewater of the lower Potomac River. The court first holds that the grounding of a vessel is a maritime ...

The court holds that a proposed consent decree requiring potentially responsible parties (PRPs), including individual and small businesses, to repay the government's past response costs according to their ability to pay and granting broad contribution protection is reasonable, fair, and consistent w...