The Eighth Circuit upheld the dismissal of a company's breach of contract and contribution claims against a railroad in connection with a lead-contaminated Superfund site in Omaha, Nebraska. The company paid approximately $200 million to settle its liability with the government, and the railroad set...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court decision approving CERCLA consent decrees between settling parties and the state concerning cleanup costs stemming from a hazardous waste site near Tucson, Arizona. Several nonsettling PRPs intervened in the case, seeking a court ...

The D.C. Circuit denied a petition for review challenging EPA's decision to add property formerly owned by a manufacturing company to the NPL. The company argued that in listing the site, EPA failed to properly consider and analyze relevant data. But the company's objections were without merit. EPA ...

The D.C. Circuit vacated EPA's gasification exclusion rule, which exempts from RCRA certain hazardous residuals left over from the petroleum refining process. Under the exclusion, oil-bearing hazardous secondary materials that are otherwise hazardous wastes under RCRA §3001 are exempted from RCRA r...

The D.C. Circuit vacated EPA's comparable fuels exclusion, which exempts all fuels deemed comparable to non-hazardous waste-derived fossil fuels from the requirements set forth in RCRA §3004(q). Section 3004(q) directs EPA to establish standards applicable to all facilities that produce, burn for e...

A district court vacated the government's approval of on-the-ground mining exploration activities in a part of western Colorado's North Fork Valley and enjoined the intervening mining companies from proceeding with the project until the agencies comply with NEPA. Although the federal agencies provid...