The Federal Circuit affirmed the lower court’s judgment that no taking occurred on a Pennsylvania family farm where a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency consent decree required appellant-farmer to reestablish wetlands on a portion of the farm. The farm is an integrated whole despite the exis...

A district court dismissed environmental groups' claim that the Department of Homeland Security's waiver of various federal environmental laws with respect to the construction of a fence along the U.S.-Mexican border under the REAL ID Act of 2005 was unconstitutional. The court lacks the power to in...

A district court granted a motion to dismiss Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, and New Jersey Spill Compensation and Control Act claims filed against the state environmental agency and its commissioner in connection ...

The Ninth Circuit upheld an injunction enjoining the California Air Resources Board from enforcing state regulations that limit emissions from the auxiliary diesel engines of ocean-going vessels within 24 miles of California's coast. Clean Air Act (CAA) §209(e)(2)(A) requires California to obta...

The Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of state takings claims arising out of a state ban on open-pit mining for gold or silver by the cyanide heap leaching process. The plaintiffs, who prior to the ban had acquired leases of Montana state property for the purpose of mining gold, silver, and other t...

A district court held that the applicable legal test for the "routine maintenance, repair, and replacement" exclusions found in the Clean Air Act (CAA) should be applied to activities that are considered "routine in the industry" rather than "routine at the unit." In a CAA enforcement action filed a...

The court holds that a state environmental agency that denied a landowner's request for setback variances from wetlands regulations to build a single-family home on his property did not effect an unconstitutional taking. The court first holds that any claim the landowner had that his application was...

The court holds that restrictions on a road paving contractor's land use permit for locating a temporary asphalt plant at a gravel pit do not violate the contractor's substantive due process and equal protection rights, or unduly interfere with interstate commerce. The court first holds that the sub...

The court holds that a state's solid waste disposal program that requires the identification of additional capacity for out-of-state waste before a plan is approved does not violate the U.S. Commerce Clause. The court first holds that the program does not facially discriminate against interstate com...

The Court holds that a landfill constructed on land ceded from the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota by an 1894 Act that diminished the boundaries of the reservation is not subject to federal environmental regulation. The Court first holds that the 1894 Act—a negotiated agreement providing...