A district court held that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), the ESA, and NEPA when it authorized the U.S. Navy to take large numbers of marine mammals, some of which are endangered or threatened, incidental to training and testing activit...

A district court held that a power company may seek contribution for some of the cleanup costs it incurred at a site adjacent to Lake Superior in Ashland, Wisconsin. The company's CERCLA §113 contribution claims stemming from a 2003 consent decree, and all its §107 cost recovery claims, are time-b...

The Ninth Circuit held that in allocating liability to a nonsettling defendant in a CERCLA contribution action, a district court has discretion to determine the most equitable method of accounting for settlements between private parties. Agreeing with the First Circuit and declining to follow the re...

The Fourth Circuit held that a public utility that sold used PCB-containing electrical transformers in the 1980s to a company for reconditioning and resale should not be held liable under CERCLA as an arranger. EPA added the site to the NPL in the mid-2000s, and the current owners of the site bore m...

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 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...