The court upholds a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule that allows the Agency to issue variances from general Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) treatment standards if such standards would likely discourage aggressive remediation of previously disposed of hazardous waste. The...

The court holds that a district court abused its discretion by abstaining from hearing property owner's Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) claims against two petroleum companies. The court first holds that Florida's underground storage tank (UST) program is preempted to the extent there i...

The court affirms a district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), finding that its denial of Connecticut's petition for rulemaking under the Magnuson-Stevens Act was not arbitrary or capricious and was consistent with all relevant law. Connecticut soug...

The court holds that Eleventh Amendment sovereign immunity bars an environmental group's suit against a state environmental agency challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's grant of a migratory bird depredation permit to the state agency. The court first holds that the state environmental age...

The court holds that a metal mining operator's claims against the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for allegedly revising the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act's (EPCRA's) toxic release inventory program as it applies to the mining industry without formal rulemaking are rip...

The court holds that a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule establishing a bifurcated schedule for hazardous waste combustors to comply with strict new emission standards is arbitrary and capricious. The rule, promulgated under the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the Resource Conservation and Rec...

The court affirms a district court denial of summary judgment to a building industry association challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS') listing of four species of fairy shrimp that live in vernal pools in California as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA)....

The court affirms a district court holding that a city was liable for contributing to illegal dumping at two garbage dumps in violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and that the director of the state environmental agency could not be held liable for RCRA violations. Resident...

The court remands the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) hazardous air pollutant emission standards for hazardous waste combustors to the Agency because the standards fail to reflect the emissions achieved in practice by the best performing sources as required by the Clean Air Act (CAA)....

The court holds that Massachusetts' environmental superlien statute, which allows the commonwealth to place a priority lien on property after spending money assessing or cleaning up a polluted tract of land, evades the Bankruptcy Code's automatic stay provision. The case arose after Massachusetts so...