The Federal Circuit affirms a lower court decision finding property owners' takings claim against the National Marine Fisheries Service unripe. The owners sought to harvest redwood trees on their property. After learning that the cost of an incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species A...

The Federal Claims Court holds that landowners are not entitled to just compensation under the Fifth Amendment in their action against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) for requiring them to set aside a portion of their property as mitigation wetlands in exchange for a §404 permit to...

The Seventh Circuit held that the state of Illinois would be violating the U.S. Constitution if it confiscated any part of a clean energy foundation's assets. After the state legislature passed an authorizing statute, the foundation was created out of the profits from a private company's sale of sev...

The Fourth Circuit held that U.S. Environmental Protection Agency inspectors who took wastewater samples at a mill are entitled to qualified immunity. The owner of the mill had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the wastewater under the circumstances shown in the record and therefore had no Fou...

A California appellate court held that the statute of limitations governing the filing of a petition for administrative mandamus challenging a decision of the state's Board of Forestry and Fire Protection is found in California Public Resources Code §4601.3. Consequently, a petition for a writ ...

A California appellate court reversed a lower court's denial of a developer's petition to overturn an adverse decision by a local planning commission due to an unacceptable probability of actual bias on the part of one of the decisionmakers. While this matter was pending before the planning commissi...

A California appellate court held that a local airport commission's adopting of an airport land use compatibility plan was a "project" under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Adoption of the plan was a project because it has the potential to result in physical change to the environmen...

A California appellate court held that maintenance work done on a levee to protect an island in the Delta in San Joaquin County from flooding was not a public works project subject to the prevailing wage laws. The work did not involve the operational work of a reclamation district, nor is there any ...

The Fifth Circuit held that a local ordinance that prevents a corporation that owns state-granted mineral interests under and around a lake from drilling within 1,000 feet of that lake is preempted by Louisiana's comprehensive regulation of oil and gas drilling. The ordinance, therefore, is invalid ...

A California appellate court affirmed a trial court decision ordering a county to set aside its approval of a single-family residence within a riparian area designated as an environmental resource of critical concern. The county found generally that any adverse environmental impacts were eliminated ...