The Second Circuit affirmed in part and remanded in part a lower court decision holding the corporate successor to a utility's former parent company liable for a portion of costs incurred cleaning up coal tar contamination at manufactured gas plant sites in upstate New York. The lower court held the...
The Ninth Circuit upheld a consent decree under CERCLA requiring a PRP to pay $350,000, plus interest, in cleanup costs incurred at a former lead and silver mine site in Bonner County, Idaho. CERCLA authorizes the United States to settle with a PRP for an amount less than that PRP’s proportionate ...
A district court denied an environmental group's motion to preliminarily enjoin BLM from issuing oil and gas leases in central and southwest Nevada due to allegedly defective environmental analyses. Although BLM has conducted a lease sale, it retains discretion to issue any leases resulting from tha...
The Eighth Circuit upheld the dismissal of a company's breach of contract and contribution claims against a railroad in connection with a lead-contaminated Superfund site in Omaha, Nebraska. The company paid approximately $200 million to settle its liability with the government, and the railroad set...
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 ...
A district court denied environmental groups' motion for an injunction and stay of an earlier decision that allows logging operations in the Nez Perce National Forest to proceed. The court previously held that the U.S. Forest Service did not act arbitrarily or capriciously when it approved a project...
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 upheld National Park Service (NPS) regulations restricting off-road vehicle (ORV) use in North Carolina's Cape Hatteras National Seashore at certain times of the year. Petitioners argued the rule was arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, and otherwise not in accordance w...