A district court ruled that passive migration of benzene from a former steel mill to an adjoining shipyard does not make the owners liable for a "disposal" under CERCLA. The plaintiff's shipyard contained a "graving dock," which is used for the "repair or scrapping of ships under dry conditions." Th...

The Tenth Circuit held that BLM's approval of coal leases in the Wyoming Powder River Basin violated NEPA. In its 2010 EIS for the leases, BLM concluded that there was no appreciable difference between the United States’ total carbon dioxide emissions under its preferred alternative and the no-act...

The Tenth Circuit held that a Wyoming law that imposed civil and criminal liability on those who cross private property to access adjacent land to collect resource data violates the First Amendment. In 2015, Wyoming enacted a pair of statutes that prohibited individuals from entering “open land fo...

A district court held that an industrial chemical company is not liable for fines for refusing to comply with an administrative order under CERCLA. In an previous decision, the company was found jointly and severally liable for the release of dioxin at the Centredale Manor Restoration Project Superf...

A district court held that a natural gas company can seek contribution from the federal government for uranium contamination cleanup under CERCLA. The company filed suit against the federal government for contribution for costs incurred cleaning up 19 former uranium mines on a Navajo reservation as ...

The Ninth Circuit held that the FAA did not act arbitrarily when it forewent a full EIS on a third runway at the Hillsboro Airport in Hillsboro, Oregon. In 2005, the airport, the busiest in the state of Oregon, developed a plan to deal with traffic that included the addition of a third runway. Since...

The Sixth Circuit held that the Forest Service's rules regarding recreational boating on Crooked Lake in Michigan's Sylvania Wilderness exceeded the agency's power as applied to private property owners. Congress gave the Forest Service authority to regulate any use of Crooked Lake and nearby lakes �...