The court refuses to approve a proposed consent decree requiring the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue a notice of proposed revisions to its hazardous waste identification rule by August 15, 1995, and to issue its final rules by December 15, 1996. The court first holds that a state...

The court holds that it lacks subject matter jurisdiction over third-party indemnification and duty-to-defend claims asserted by a defendant in a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Recovery Act (CERCLA) cost recovery action against its insurer. The claims are not closely enough ...

The court holds that when the state of New Jersey acts in its sovereign capacity to invoke the jurisdiction of a federal court to assert state-law claims against a waste hauler and its customers, it waives its Eleventh Amendment immunity with respect to contribution claims by third-party plaintiffs ...

The court holds ripe for adjudication an oil company's action for a declaratory judgment that the estate of its predecessor's deceased owner is liable under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) to the extent of the oil company's liability, for a hazardou...

The court holds time barred a trespass action that an estate's representative brought against several companies for nonremoval of chemicals that they allegedly dumped on the decedent's land. The court first holds that the district court did not err in denying plaintiff's motion to remand the case to...

The court refuses to issue a writ of mandamus overturning a district court refusal to order the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) not to initiate enforcement action against hazardous waste generators for shipping material to petitioner hazardous waste treatment company, which lacks a Resour...

The court holds that timber companies, a trade association, and a county lack constitutional and prudential standing to challenge the U.S. Forest Service's interim guidelines on managing spotted owl habitat in California's western Sierra Nevada national forests. Plaintiffs alleged that the guideline...

The court holds that the owners of a contaminated site may not recover damages for negligence, gross negligence, or strict liability from an oil company that previously owned the site and used it to dispose of oil-field waste. The court first holds that Texas' two-year statute of limitations for pro...

The court holds that the Endangered Species Act's (ESA's) prohibition on the "take" of endangered species is not unconstitutional as applied to purely local activities that affect a fly that exists only in California. The court first holds that the record clearly shows that wildlife in general, and ...

The court holds that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requires the U.S. Forest Service to release to an environmental group management territory maps identifying Mexican spotted owl nest sites. The Forest Service may not withhold the maps under FOIA exemption 2, which permits withholding of inf...