The court, on reconsideration, again refuses to approve a consent decree, which provides for payments to three private conservation organizations, in a citizen suit under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA). Relying on the ninth circuit's holding in Sierra Club, Inc. v. Electronic Contro...

The court holds that an environmental organization whose members suffered psychological injury from viewing the killing of bison in Montana has standing to sue, but the Eleventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution bars the organization's federal action against Montana, and the U.S. Department of the ...

The court holds that the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act (TAPAA) implicitly repealed the Limitation Act. The court holds that TAPAA irreconcilably conflicts with the Limitation Act because the Limitation Act is contrary to TAPAA's comprehensive remedial nature. Congress intended TAPAA to bec...

The court holds that the impact of a redesigned interstate-highway interchange on regional traffic patterns, considered alone or in conjunction with other intervening developments, has been adequately reviewed and requires no new or supplemental environmental impact analyses. Over several decades, t...

The court holds that plaintiffs in a citizen suit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under §505 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) are not entitled to an injunction to compel EPA to issue compliance orders to correct alleged violations of FWPCA §301. The plainti...

The court holds that owners of lots that previously abutted Mount Hope Bay do not also own the property created by fill from the dredging of the bay. In 1948, a Corps of Engineers' channel dredging project increased the 10-foot strip of beach alone the shoreline of the bay to a 270-foot area of shor...

The court dismisses claims by past and present residents and owners of property near the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington against past and present operators of the facility for risk abatement, remediation, medical monitoring, information disclosure, and punitive damages, but denies motions ...

The court holds that a corporation and its principals are not entitled to a preliminary injunction preventing the United States from investigating and bringing a criminal action against them for alleged violations of §404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FW-PCA) on farmland owned by the ...

The court holds that Arizona is not liable as an "arranger" under §107(a)(3) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act for response costs related to hazardous materials deposited at the Hassayampa landfill near Phoenix, Arizona. The state did not constructively ow...

The court vacates a district court decision which held that a state-imposed public easement over private beachfront property is not a compensable taking and that the risk that some property would be lost to the sea was assumed at purchase. The circuit court holds that the Eleventh Amendment bars the...