The court reverses a district court decision and holds that the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it implemented a vessel management plan (VMP) for the Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska without preparing an environmental impact statement (EIS). Th...

The court affirms in part and reverses in part a district court decision holding that certain beneficiaries to the Central Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact (the Compact) had a right to sue Nebraska for acts delaying the construction of the Compact's disposal facility and that the state...

The court holds that initiative measures generated and placed on the ballot by a public agency are not exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The city of Sierra Madre enacted a historic preservation ordinance, and several owners of landmarked property claimed that their propert...

The court dismisses individuals' public nuisance action against sugar companies that allegedly disposed of a chemical byproduct of sugar cane processing by deep well injection. A trial court dismissed the individuals' nuisance claim because the individuals did not exhaust their administrative remedi...

The U.S. Supreme Court holds that the federal government holds title in trust for the Coeur d'Alene Indian Tribe to submerged lands underlying portions of Lake Coeur d'Alene and the St. Joe River in Idaho. The reservation was created by executive order in 1873, but it was never ratified by Congress....

The court holds that the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA's) and Air National Guard's (ANG's) orders approving the Colorado Airspace Initiative (Initiative) and its underlying environmental impact analysis did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Federal Aviation Act, ...

The court affirms a trial court dismissal of a company's claim under R.C. Chapter 3746—the state voluntary action cleanup law—against the state department of transportation for costs allegedly incurred cleaning up contaminated company property. The court first holds that the company failed to un...

A Minnesota appellate court upheld a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency rule governing phosphorus effluent discharges into state waters. A coalition of cities argued that because the rule provides that a discharger "may" rather than "shall" qualify for an exemption if it demonstrates that it can mee...

The Fourth Circuit held that an environmental group was entitled to attorney fees in their action challenging an OSM decision that resulted in a remand to the agency for additional investigation. The group filed a citizen complaint with the OSM alleging that a reclaimed surface mining site, which ha...

A district court held that the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection may intervene in environmental groups' lawsuit challenging the DOI Secretary's approval of two amendments to the state's surface mining regulatory program. Although the goal of the state agency appears to be identica...