A district court denied an oil company's motion to enforce a 1991 consent decree entered into in response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The decree expressly released the company from cleanup obligations following the decree's entry. But it also contained a "reopene...

A New York court upheld a town's zoning amendment that bans hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) within its jurisdiction. The zoning amendment was enacted in response to a petition from town residents concerned about hydrofracking's impact on ground and surface water supplies. An energy company ...

The U.S. Supreme Court reversed a state court decision that Montana may charge rent from an electric company that owns dams on the Missouri, Madison, and Clark Fork rivers. The Montana Supreme Court held that title to the riverbeds passed to Montana when it became a state in 1889 and awarded alm...

The D.C. Circuit held that a city has standing to challenge a railroad company's sale of a historic elevated railroad embankment to developers. The city argued that the sale was void because the company failed to obtain approval from the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to abandon the property...

A district court remanded to state court landowners' claims for damages caused by defendants' alleged disposal of hazardous materials on their property. The landowners originally filed the suit in state court, but the defendants removed the case to federal court, arguing that the case involves a...