The U.S. Supreme Court held that mere knowledge of continuing spills and leaks is insufficient grounds for holding a company liable as an arranger under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). Under the plain language of CERCLA §107(a)(3), an entity may q...

A district court upheld the U.S. Forest Service's approval of the Big Thorne Project in the Tongass National Forest, thereby allowing the logging of approximately 6,186 acres of old growth forest and construction of 46.1 miles of new Forest Service roads to begin on April 1, 2015. Environmental grou...

A district court held that BLM violated NEPA and the APA when it authorized a logging project in an area of Douglas County, Oregon, that provides habitat for the northern spotted owl. In its EA for the project, which would effectively remove 160 acres of mature forest, BLM failed to consider a reaso...

A district court held that an insurance company must defend and indemnify a manufacturing company for its costs responding to contamination at a landfill. The insurer argued that the policy's pollution exclusion clause barred coverage because the company intentionally discharged its waste into the l...

A district court held that CERCLA §113(f)(2) does not afford the U.S. government protection from contribution claims brought by a third-party PRP in a case involving cleanup costs incurred at the Quehanna Wild Area Nuclear Site in Pennsylvania. The U.S. government entered into a settlement agreemen...

A district court held that a corporation may be held liable under CERCLA for contamination stemming from smelting operations in the early 1900s by a subsidiary of the corporation's predecessor. Considering the totality of the circumstances, the smelting company was the alter ego of the corporation's...

A district court held that TVA did not violate NEPA when it decided to replace two coal-fired power generators with a natural gas-fueled power generating plant. TVA was replacing the generators to comply with mercury and air toxics standards. It issued an EA and FONSI for the project, and a coal ass...

The Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court decision denying environmental groups' request for attorneys fees after they successfully challenged OSM's grant of a coal mining permit revision. Below, the groups' lawsuit was consolidated with other actions challenging the permit revision, which was ultima...

The D.C. Circuit upheld the National Park Service's (NPS') deer management plan for Rock Creek National Park in Washington, DC. The plan involves the killing of white-tailed deer to reduce the herd to an ecologically sustainable level. An animal rights group argued that NPS failed to comply with the...

The Sixth Circuit held that the three-year statute of limitations for contribution actions brought after an administrative settlement to perform a removal action begins running when the settlement becomes effective, not when the removal action is completed. In this case, the plaintiff—a group of P...