The court holds that the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act's (TAPAA's or the Act's) strict liability scheme requires payment from the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Liability Fund (the Fund) for damages resulting from the February 1990 tanker spill of crude oil offshore Huntington Beach, California, an...

The court upholds the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) high-volume and low-hazard criteria rules promulgated for implementing the "special waste" exemption under Subtitle C of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), which deal with RCRA's applicability to mine processing wastes. ...

The court rules that the petroleum exclusion in the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) covers all forms of petroleum, including crude oil and its fractions, petroleum fuels and oils, and other refined petroleum products. The exclusion applies even if CERCL...

The court rules that a state is not an "operator" within the meaning of §107 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) when it acts solely in its statutory capacity to clean up a hazardous waste site. The New York Department of Environmental Conservation ...

The court holds that the Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) bears the burden of proving the existence of wetlands within the meaning of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) by a preponderance of the evidence, and the issue of the reliability of the Corps' data collection is a material fa...

The court holds that a company that purchased the corporate assets of a company that is a defendant in a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) action is not responsible for the liabilities of the selling corporation. After the operator of a contaminated count...

The court holds that a debtor's liability under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) is not discharged in bankruptcy, where the debtor has not disclosed its potential CERCLA and state liabilities, and the state, while aware of its role as a creditor in t...

The court holds that the district court properly refused to permanently enjoin timber harvesting in the Tongass National Forest in southeastern Alaska pursuant to a 50-year timber sale contract between the U.S. Forest Service and the Alaska Pulp Company, because the Tongass Timber Reform Act of 1990...

The court holds that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) does not preempt state common-law products liability claims in which plaintiffs, who were exposed to a pesticide applied to the interior of their building, sustained serious injuries, including death, stroke, and co...

The court holds that a commercial landowner's receipt and composting of discarded organic material is subject to a county ordinance prohibiting the operation of a solid waste disposal facility without a permit. The court first holds that the county has the authority to enact the ordinance, because i...