The court enters a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) consent decree between the United States and potentially responsible parties (PRPs) despite objections by the PRPs and other third parties, in light of United States v. Rohm & Haas Co., 23 ELR 21345...

The court holds that §113(b)(3) of the pre-1990 version of the Clean Air Act (CAA) does not require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to give notice as a precondition to filing suit, and affirms a district court's imposition of civil penalties against a landowner and an investment comp...

The court holds that lots located on Big Pine Key, Florida, into which the owner of the lots placed fill material without the necessary Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) permit, were "adjacent," rather than "isolated," freshwater wetlands at the time of the owner's activities, and that the...

The court reverses and remands an individual's misdemeanor conviction under 18 U.S.C. §1864(a)(2) for spiking trees in the Clearwater National Forest, holding that the district court's reinstatement of two counts of misdemeanor tree spiking one day after it granted his motion for acquittal on the f...

The court reverses a district court decision that a farmer's clearing and draining of a 30-acre wetland constituted normal farming activities exempt under §404(f)(1) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) from the §404 permitting requirements. The court first notes that the district co...

The court holds that a railroad company that owned part of the Broderick Wood Products Superfund site is not jointly and severally liable for all cleanup costs at the site. The court first holds that the railroad company is liable as a successor under §107(a)(2) of the Comprehensive Environmental R...

The court affirms the felony convictions and sentence of a prospector/miner for unauthorized logging of federal timber and damaging a U.S. Forest Service access road in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§641 and 1361. The court first rejects the miner's argument that the district court should have applied t...

The court affirms a defendant's jury conviction for knowingly dumping polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) unlawfully and failing to provide timely notice to the government of the PCB releases under §103(b) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. Defendant arranged...

The court holds that a past owner of a contaminated site is not liable to the current owner under New Jersey environmental laws or §§107(a)(2) or 113(f) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) as a result of borings the past owner commissioned at the s...

The court affirms a district court's approval of two Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) consent decrees with generators and transporters and certain owners and operators of a hazardous waste site in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts. Addressing the reasonableness o...