The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court decision approving CERCLA consent decrees between settling parties and the state concerning cleanup costs stemming from a hazardous waste site near Tucson, Arizona. Several nonsettling PRPs intervened in the case, seeking a court ...

The D.C. Circuit denied a petition for review challenging EPA's decision to add property formerly owned by a manufacturing company to the NPL. The company argued that in listing the site, EPA failed to properly consider and analyze relevant data. But the company's objections were without merit. EPA ...

A district court vacated the government's approval of on-the-ground mining exploration activities in a part of western Colorado's North Fork Valley and enjoined the intervening mining companies from proceeding with the project until the agencies comply with NEPA. Although the federal agencies provid...

The D.C. Circuit dismissed teenagers' lawsuit against the federal government for failing to cap greenhouse gas emissions. Invoking the federal question statute, 28 U.S.C. §1331, as the basis for subject matter jurisdiction, the minors alleged that the federal defendants are trustees of essential na...

The U.S. Supreme Court held that CERCLA §309 does not preempt a state's statute of repose. The case arose after property owners filed suit against a manufacturing company for alleged groundwater contamination stemming from chemicals stored on property the company sold 24 years ago. The company argu...

The Second Circuit upheld a lower court decision dismissing a developer's CERCLA indemnity claim for remediation costs it incurred as the owner of a building contaminated by toxic dust from the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center. The developer filed suit against the owners and less...