The Ninth Circuit upheld the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' decision allowing a hydroelectric plant that operates at the Snoqualmie Falls to lower dam waters in the channel above the falls in order to mitigate upstream flooding problems while it undergoes plant upgrades and modifications. The ope...

The Federal Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part damages awarded to the current owner of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station stemming from the government's failure to dispose of spent nuclear fuel generated at the station. The owner's legal and lobbying fees to secure approval from...

The Fourth Circuit held that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer violated NEPA when it issued a CWA §404 permit allowing a developer to build a mooring facility and boat ramp 3,000 feet from the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The Corps' EA, issued contemporaneously w...

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned an $18 million fine imposed against a pipeline operator for storing liquid mercury at one of its facilities without a permit in violation of RCRA. In Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, the Court held that the Sixth Amendment's jury-trial guarantee requires th...

The Third Circuit vacated as moot a lower court decision that dismissed a contractor's third-party complaint against Pennsylvania and the commonwealth's natural resources agency for cleanup costs associated with Quehanna Wild Area Nuclear Site. The contractor argued that the lower court erred by...

A district court dismissed environmental groups' complaint against two railroad companies alleging that diesel particulate matter (DPM) emitted by diesel-engine locomotives, trucks, and other equipment has caused and is causing an imminent and substantial risk to human health and the environment...