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Mitigation Banking as an Endangered Species Conservation Tool

A recent headline on the front page of the Wall Street Journal hailed the opening of the nation's first "butterfly bank." The "deposits" in this unusual bank are conservation credits earned by preserving an important area of habitat for the Quino checkerspot butterfly, an endangered species restricted to California. The bank's intended customers are other landowners who hope to develop other sites where the butterfly occurs. In order to do so, they can buy credits from the private entrepreneur who established the butterfly bank.

Sovereign Immunity and the National Nuclear Security Administration: A King That Can Do No Wrong?

The 1999 National Nuclear Security Administration Act (NNSA Act) threatens to reverse 20 years of reforms and court decisions intended to bring the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) into compliance with environmental laws and regulations. The NNSA Act, enacted in the wake of allegations of spying at Los Alamos nuclear weapons laboratory in New Mexico, established a semi-autonomous agency within DOE—the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The NNSA operates nine laboratories and facilities within the U.S. nuclear weapons complex.

The Never Ending Story: The Constitutionality of Superfund's Retroactive Liability Regime

Since the enactment of Superfund in 1980, critics of the statute's liability regime have been relentless in their attempts to convince courts that Superfund liability is so unfair as to be unconstitutional. While their persistence has produced only minor changes in the liability regime, their cause may have been given a lift by the U.S. Supreme Court's 1998 decision in Eastern Enterprises v. Apfel.

Hill v. Boy

The court holds that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to consider adequately the environmental impact of a petroleum pipeline that crosses under a proposed reservoir before issuing a Federal Water Pollution Control Act §404 permit. In issuin...

South Dakota Mining Ass'n v. Lawrence County

The court holds that the Federal Mining Act of 1872 preempts a local zoning ordinance that bans surface metal mining within the Spearfish Canyon area of South Dakota. The court first holds that miners' preemption claim against the county ordinance is ripe. The miners have shown a realistic danger of...

Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project v. Pence

The court upholds a U.S. Forest Service decision to allow a timber sale in the Malheur National Forest in Oregon. The Forest Service's decision allows the harvest of approximately 10.7-million-board feet of timber from approximately 3,560 acres, which includes 92 acres of conifers encroaching on asp...

International Ass'n of Indep. Tanker Owners v. Locke

A judge dissents from the Ninth Circuit's decision not to rehear a case addressing the Oil Pollution Act's (OPA's) preemptive effect on Washington State's oil spill prevention regulations. The initial Ninth Circuit opinion held that the OPA did not preempt the majority of the state's oil spill regul...

South Bronx Coalition for Clean Air v. Conroy

The court dismisses environmental groups' motion to enjoin the sale of a former bus depot in the South Bronx, New York. The sale is part of a plan to develop a former rail yard adjacent to the depot. The plan provides for an intermodal freight terminal, a solid waste transfer station, a paper recycl...

Ross v. Federal Highway Admin.

The court affirms a district court decision enjoining further construction on a Kansas highway project until the Federal Highway Administration (FHwA) completes a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) for a segment of the project. The court first...