The Michigan Court of Appeals, in an unpublished opinion, upheld the state environmental agency's decision to issue two permits authorizing modifications at a coal-fired power plant. The plant is located in a county that violates the NAAQS for particulate matter less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5). An env...
A district court held that the owner of a vacant property is liable under CERCLA for the release of hazardous waste intentionally caused by trespassers. The owner, who left oil drums on the property, claimed she was entitled to the innocent landowner defense. But she failed to show by a preponderanc...
A district court dismissed, with leave to amend, a dry cleaning business owner's CERCLA claims against a water company for soil and groundwater contamination. The owner alleged that the water company's operation of a nearby well led to the release of perchloroethylene (PCE). But the complaint does n...
The D.C. Circuit held that so long as DOE has no viable alternative to Yucca Mountain as a depository for nuclear waste, it may not charge nuclear power plant operators an annual fee to cover the cost of that disposal. The court previously held that DOE violated its statutory obligation under the Nu...
A district court dismissed residents' lawsuit against a city for allowing a metals finishing plant to use and store acids and other dangerous chemicals. The residents' only factual allegation against the city is that it zoned the property at issue as a commercial or industrial use area and allowed t...
A district court held that it would not waive the statute of limitations in a breach of contract case filed by the heirs of a cattle rancher against an oil company for contaminating the rancher's property. The suit stems from the company's oil and gas operations in the 1960s and 1970s. The statute o...
The Second Circuit, in a summary order, affirmed a lower court decision dismissing a property owner's lawsuit against a nearby gas station operator for contaminating the owner's shopping plaza and against a cleanup contractor for failing to detect the contamination or warn of its potential existence...
A district court ordered EPA to submit within 60 days a schedule on when it proposes to complete its review and revision of its RCRA Subtitle D coal ash regulations. In 1980, Congress amended RCRA by adding §3001(b)(3)(A)(ii), known as the Bevill Amendment, to prohibit EPA from regulating mining an...
A district court held that the Virgin Islands may go forward with its suit to recover response costs it incurred responding to the release of hazardous substances at a former alumina facility. Under CERCLA, at least some costs must be incurred prior to the start of litigation in order for a plaintif...
The D.C. Circuit dismissed as moot truck engine manufacturers' lawsuit challenging four certificates of conformity EPA issued to another engine manufacturer pursuant to an interim final rule that allowed certificates to be issued to 2012 and 2013 model-year engines even if the engines fail to confor...