The court withdraws its opinion published at 23 ELR 21504, and affirms a district court's holding that a copper smelter is liable under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) for costs of cleaning up heavy-metal leachate from slag at several sites. The sme...

The court holds that the doctrine of unconstitutional conditions does not bar the federal government from recovering its costs of conducting a remedial investigation/feasibility study (RI/FS) even though its offer to allow a potentially responsible party (PRP) to conduct the RI/FS was conditioned on...

The court holds that the U.S. Court of Federal Claims had jurisdiction to hear a claim that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' denial of a permit to fill wetlands constituted an unconstitutional taking, even though a claim challenging the permit under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) was pendin...

The court holds that §24(b) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) preempts state common-law tort claims based on failure to properly label herbicides and failure to adequately warn of dangers associated with their use. A chemical sprayer brought suit against chemical ma...

The court holds that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) failed to furnish a reasoned basis for denying two utilities' requests for additional sulfur dioxide emission allowances under Title IV of the Clean Air Act (CAA). One utility claimed that it was entitled to bonus allowances under C...

The court holds that insurance companies that issued comprehensive general liability policies to an asbestos manufacturer and distributor are obligated on the risk undertaken when asbestos was installed in buildings involved in the underlying litigation against the manufacturer. The court first hold...

The Court holds that state implementation plan (SIP) revisions that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved on the condition that the state remedy minor deficiencies in the SIP are binding parts of the state's SIP. Arizona submitted plans to improve mass transit systems in two counti...

The court holds that the work identified in a sewage system evaluation survey (SSES) is part of a wastewater treatment and disposal system reconstruction project as originally contemplated and that the city and drainage district are to use the money remaining in original grant funds from the state a...

The court holds that the citizen suit provisions of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) create a federal right-of-action in states with approved regulatory programs for landowners whose property was damaged by a coal company operating under a strip mining permit obtained in violat...

The court holds that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) denial of a company's request to extend its waiver of compliance under Clean Air Act (CAA) §112(c)(1)(B)(ii) to allow the company more time to comply with the hazardous emission standard for benzene was arbitrary and capricious...