A district court held that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE) did not violate NEPA or the ESA when it accepted over 300 bids for oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater Horizon disaster. An environmental group argued that the ag...
The Eleventh Circuit upheld FWS' decision denying environmental groups' petitions to designate critical habitat for the Florida panther under the ESA. The Secretary of the Interior listed the Florida panther as an endangered species in 1967—more than a decade before the 1978 amendments required a ...
The Indiana Supreme Court held that an insurance company must provide coverage to a manufacturer for TCE contamination even though the policy contained an absolute pollution exclusion clause. The pollution exclusion clause excluded coverage for losses resulting from "pollutants," which the polic...
A district court ordered the California Department of Transportation to revise its EA for a proposal to widen a highway through a state park home to ancient redwoods as well as an abundance of wildlife, including the marbled murrelet and spotted owl. There are a number of discrepancies and omiss...
A district court dismissed California's suit against DOI challenging its approval of the Colorado River Water Delivery Agreement under NEPA and the CAA. The state alleged that DOI failed to comply with the two statutes prior to approving it and sought an order immediately ceasing water deliverie...
A district court remanded to EPA its determination that several provisions of Florida's "impaired water rule" are not new or revised water quality standards and, thus, not subject to approval by the Agency. An environmental group argued that EPA's decision was arbitrary and capricious. In order ...
The Third Circuit upheld the dismissal of a mother's Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) suit against the government after her child was bitten by a barracuda while playing near the shore of Buck Island Reef National Monument in St. Croix. The mother alleged that the National Park Service (NPS) negli...
A California appellate court held that a local board's environmental impact report (EIR) for the construction of a light rail line connecting downtown Los Angeles with Santa Monica complies with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). A coalition of homeowners' associations, community g...
A district court held that a low-income community association may go forward with its claim against EPA for failing to issue preliminary findings and recommendations for voluntary compliance in response to a Title VI complaint concerning the siting, permitting, expansion, and operation of toxic ...
The Eleventh Circuit upheld FWS' denial of petitions to designate critical habitat for the Florida panther under the ESA. Environmental groups claimed that the denial of their petitions was arbitrary and capricious under the APA. But neither the ESA nor the regulations cited by the groups provid...