Scarborough Citizens Protecting Resources v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
The First Circuit upheld the dismissal of a citizen group's lawsuit against the FWS in a suit concerning Maine's conveyance of easements on a recreational trail purchased with federal funds. The Wildlife Restoration Act, enacted in 1937, authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to disburse money...
Gregory Village Partners, L.P. v. Chevron U.S.A., Inc.
A district court held that a property owner may go forward with its RCRA claims against neighboring property owners for groundwater and soil contamination, but it dismissed the owner's CERCLA claim against a water district that operated a sewer line between the two properties. The owner adequate...
American Alternative Insurance Co. v. Moon Nurseries, Inc.
A district court dismissed an insurance company's CERCLA claim against a tree nursery to recover response costs incurred by firefighters responding to a fire. The fire involved chlorine, a hazardous substance, and the company asserted that its insureds--two fire companies—"removed" and "remediated...
Solutia, Inc. v. McWane, Inc.
The Eleventh Circuit held that parties subject to a consent decree may not file claims for cost recovery under §107(a) of CERCLA and that their remedies are limited to filing claims for contribution under CERCLA §113(f). If a party subject to a consent decree could simply repackage its §113(f...
Center for Environmental Law & Policy v. United States Bureau of Reclamation,
The Ninth Circuit held that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation took the requisite "hard look" under NEPA in its analysis of a proposed incremental drawdown of water from Lake Roosevelt in Washington state. Although a portion of the EA exclusively devoted to cumulative effects is conclusory and unenl...
Oil Re-Refining Co. v. Pacific Recycling, Inc.
A district court dismissed an oil refiner's CERCLA action against a recycling company for costs it incurred responding to PCB contamination allegedly resulting from used oil that was delivered from the company's facility to the refinery. The claim fails because there has been no release or thre...