A district court ruled that passive migration of benzene from a former steel mill to an adjoining shipyard does not make the owners liable for a "disposal" under CERCLA. The plaintiff's shipyard contained a "graving dock," which is used for the "repair or scrapping of ships under dry conditions." Th...

The Tenth Circuit held that BLM's approval of coal leases in the Wyoming Powder River Basin violated NEPA. In its 2010 EIS for the leases, BLM concluded that there was no appreciable difference between the United States’ total carbon dioxide emissions under its preferred alternative and the no-act...

A district court held that an industrial chemical company is not liable for fines for refusing to comply with an administrative order under CERCLA. In an previous decision, the company was found jointly and severally liable for the release of dioxin at the Centredale Manor Restoration Project Superf...

A district court held that a natural gas company can seek contribution from the federal government for uranium contamination cleanup under CERCLA. The company filed suit against the federal government for contribution for costs incurred cleaning up 19 former uranium mines on a Navajo reservation as ...

The Tenth Circuit held that a mining company has the right to recover cleanup costs at a Superfund site because the U.S. government was an owner under the statute. Over the last century, the mining company and its corporate predecessors mined molybdenum at a site near Questa, New Mexico. The mining ...

The California Supreme Court held that the state Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) was not preempted by federal law. The North Coast Railroad Authority (NCRA) undertook a project to update and repair railroad tracks that run across the Eel and Russian Rivers and restore freight operation in the areas...