The Ninth Circuit upheld the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement's (BSEE's) approval of oil spill response plans for an oil company's leases in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas on Alaska's Arctic coast. Several environmental groups claimed that BSEE's approval was arbitrary and capricious un...

The D.C. Circuit held that building and development associations lacked standing to challenge consent decrees that require FWS to determine, in accordance with a settlement-defined schedule, whether 251 species should be listed as endangered or threatened under the ESA. The case arose after environm...

A district court held that a PRP established the divisibility defense and, therefore, is not jointly and severally liable for cleanup costs at the Lower Fox River Superfund site in Wisconsin. On remand from the Seventh Circuit, the district court was ordered to reconsider the PRP's divisibility defe...

The D.C. Circuit ordered EPA to submit a timeline for when it will issue its financial assurance rules under CERCLA to ensure that industries that handle hazardous substances have the financial means to clean up any releases. It has been nearly 30 years since Congress charged EPA with issuing such r...