Los Angeles, City of v. Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District
A district court dismissed a city's lawsuit against California state and local air districts challenging fees it must pay to mitigate wind-blown dust from a dry lake bed that exceed state and federal air standards. Section 42316 of the California Health and Safety Code authorized the district to ord...
Stratford Holding, LLC v. Fog Cap Retail Investors LLC
The Eleventh Circuit, in an unpublished opinion, reversed and remanded a lower court decision dismissing a company's cost recovery action under CERCLA for failure to state a claim. The lower court granted the motion to dismiss upon a finding that a "no-listing letter" from the Georgia Environmental ...
Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands v. United States Environmental Protection Agency
The Ninth Circuit, in an amended opinion, denied an environmental group's petition challenging EPA's decision to grant two air permits authorizing exploratory drilling operations in the Arctic Ocean by a drillship and its associated fleet of support vessels. The permits require the drillship to comp...
PCS Nitrogen Inc. v. Ashley II of Charleston LLC
The Fourth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision allocating response costs to various PRPs in connection with the cleanup of hazardous substances at a former fertilizer manufacturing site in Charleston, South Carolina. After incurring response costs, the current owner of a portion of the site brou...
Friends of the Earth v. United States Environmental Protection Agency
A district court held that EPA has no mandatory or nondiscretionary duty to make a determination as to whether lead emissions from general aviation aircraft engines using aviation gasoline endanger the public health or welfare under CAA §231(a)(2)(A). A finding that emissions cause or contribute to...
United States v. DTE Energy Co.
The Sixth Circuit held that the CAA does not categorically prevent EPA from challenging preconstruction projections of whether and to what extent emissions will increase following construction. The preconstruction projection determines whether the project constitutes a “major modification” and t...
Ed Niemi Oil Co. v. Exxon Mobil Corp.
A district court held that genuine issues of material fact preclude a grant of summary judgment in a petroleum distributor's contribution claim against an oil company for costs incurred cleaning up hazardous substance contamination at a gas station and bulk petroleum storage plant formerly leased by...