A California appellate court affirmed a lower court decision dismissing a citizen group's lawsuit seeking to vacate a city's approval of a "big box" retail store. The group alleged that the approval violated planning and zoning laws. Their suit, however, is time barred under Cal. Gov. Code §65009(c...

A district court dismissed a landowner's trespass claim against an energy company for waste stemming from natural gas drilling operations on the property. The company owns the mineral rights underlying the land. As part of its drilling operations, the company deposited drilling waste and other mater...

A New York court struck down a city's local ordinance that placed a two-year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing within its borders. The city argued that it issued the ordinance under its local police powers and that it was therefore not required to refer the law to the county planning board prior to...

A district court held that EPA overstepped its statutory authority under the CWA and SMCRA when it issued guidance on Appalachian surface coal mining permits. EPA argued that the guidance was not final agency action and, thus, not subject to judicial review. But the court disagreed, holding that the...

A New Jersey appellate court held that a town that acquired property containing a former landfill in an eminent domain action cannot require part of the condemnation award to be set aside for remediation purposes. The state's highest court has previously held that contaminated property acquired in a...

A Pennsylvania appellate court partially struck down Act 13, which pertains to oil and gas operations in the Marcellus Shale, as unconstitutional. The Act repealed Pennsylvania’s Oil and Gas Act and replaced it with a codified statutory framework regulating oil and gas operations in the Commonweal...