The Federal Circuit, on remand from the U.S. Supreme Court, held that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' temporary deviations from the water release rates set forth in an operating plan for the Clearwater Dam that caused increased flooding in Arkansas' Dave Donaldson Black River Wildlife Management A...

The D.C. Circuit vacated a FERC decision allowing a power company to use a regional transmission organization's (RTO's) transmission lines in order to join another RTO network. The two RTOs involved in this case had entered a joint operating agreement that allowed both RTOs to use the other's transm...

A district court held that the owner of a vacant property is liable under CERCLA for the release of hazardous waste intentionally caused by trespassers. The owner, who left oil drums on the property, claimed she was entitled to the innocent landowner defense. But she failed to show by a preponderanc...

A district court dismissed, with leave to amend, a dry cleaning business owner's CERCLA claims against a water company for soil and groundwater contamination. The owner alleged that the water company's operation of a nearby well led to the release of perchloroethylene (PCE). But the complaint does n...

The First Circuit reversed in part a lower court's judgment in favor of a lender in a dispute concerning environmental testing expenses associated with a foreclosure on a parcel of land following a loan default. The lender and borrower entered an environmental indemnity agreement under which the lan...

A district court dismissed residents' lawsuit against a city for allowing a metals finishing plant to use and store acids and other dangerous chemicals. The residents' only factual allegation against the city is that it zoned the property at issue as a commercial or industrial use area and allowed t...

A district court held that it would not waive the statute of limitations in a breach of contract case filed by the heirs of a cattle rancher against an oil company for contaminating the rancher's property. The suit stems from the company's oil and gas operations in the 1960s and 1970s. The statute o...

A California appellate court, in an unpublished opinion, dismissed residents' lawsuit challenging a city's decision not to prepare an environmental impact report (EIR) under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for a proposed mixed-use commercial and residential project. The residents mai...