New York State Electric & Gas Co. v. FirstEnergy Corp.
The Second Circuit affirmed in part and remanded in part a lower court decision holding the corporate successor to a utility's former parent company liable for a portion of costs incurred cleaning up coal tar contamination at manufactured gas plant sites in upstate New York. The lower court held the...
United States v. Coeur d'Alenes Co.
The Ninth Circuit upheld a consent decree under CERCLA requiring a PRP to pay $350,000, plus interest, in cleanup costs incurred at a former lead and silver mine site in Bonner County, Idaho. CERCLA authorizes the United States to settle with a PRP for an amount less than that PRP’s proportionate ...
Mc Allen Grace Brethren Church v. Salazar
The Fifth Circuit held that DOI's ban on owning bald eagle feathers under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). DOI's implementation of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act prohibits American Indians who are not members of federally recog...
Center for Community Action & Environmental Justice v. BNSF Railway Co.
The Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of environmental groups' RCRA citizen suit against a railroad company seeking to enjoin the emission of particulate matter found in diesel exhaust from the company's railyards. RCRA’s citizen suit provision permits any person to sue the owner or operator of a...
Markle Interests, LLC v. United States Fish & Wildlife Service
A district court upheld FWS' designation of 1,544 acres of a privately owned tree farm in Louisiana as critical habitat essential for the conservation of the dusky gopher frog, an endangered species. The frog, listed in 2001, is located only in Mississippi; it does not presently occupy the tree farm...