The court reverses a district court decision granting summary judgment in favor of two corporations in a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) action brought by a paper manufacturers' association seeking contribution for costs incurred in the investigation an...
Editors' Summary: Rather than signaling the death of private property rights, as media and the public initially feared, the Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. City of New London ushered in an era of increased state and federal protection for private property. In this Article, Daniel H. Cole examines Kelo's repercussions for urban redevelopment. He begins with a description of the case, and then examines the resulting backlash from the media and public opinion, which decried the decision as unduly expanding eminent domain powers.
Editors' Summary: In this Article, William W. Wade evaluates the conceptual measurement of economic impact within the Penn Central test for income-producing properties recently adjudicated in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The discussion considers measurement of the denominator of the takings fraction related to Penn Central's parcel as a whole and whether it differs between permanent and temporary takings.
In a recent essay, David Coursen asks an important and unexamined question: Are environmental justice policies, which seek to avoid disproportionate environmental burdens on minority and poor communities, on a "collision course" with the Equal Protection Clause? In concluding that a potential collision is more illusory than real, Coursen offers a number of reasons why governmental actions to promote environmental justice have not been challenged in court and, even if they were to be, would not be subjected to strict judicial scrutiny.
Editors' Summary
The Ninth Circuit held that the BLM violated NEPA when it approved a mining company's amendment to a plan of operations for an existing mineral exploration project in Nevada. The BLM took a hard look at the direct impacts of the amendment and its discussion of reasonable alternatives was proper, but...
A California appellate court held that a subdivision development project is not exempt from environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The county deemed the project exempt from CEQA under the categorical exemption for in-fill development. But the proposed subdivision...
The U.S. Supreme Court held that a district court abused its discretion in enjoining the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) from effecting a partial deregulation of Roundup Ready Alfalfa (RRA), a variety of alfalfa genetically engineered to tolerate the herbicide Roundup, and in proh...
The Tenth Circuit rejected environmental and citizens' groups challenge to a 2003 BLM resource management plan amendment allowing natural gas development in Wyoming's Powder River Basin. The groups alleged that BLM violated NEPA when it refused to study in detail their proposal to phase development ...