The court holds that provisions of Indiana's Environmental Compliance Plans Act (ECPA) that favor a utility's use of Indiana coal violate the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The ECPA allows a utility to seek an early review by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) of the utility...

The court holds that a contribution claim under the 1989 Washington state Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) against a railroad reorganized in bankruptcy is not subject to a 1985 claims bar date. The claim arose out of an environmental cleanup of a railyard located within the Commencement Bay/Nearshore...

The court grants a preliminary injunction to restrain enforcement of New Jersey's flow control regulations for construction and demolition (C&D) debris and to require implementation of an alternative state regulatory plan. The regulations required some types of debris not separated into recyclab...

The court dismisses strict liability, negligence, and trespass claims that a past owner of a site containing corroded underground gasoline storage tanks brought against another past owner and the successors to past lessees of the site. The court first finds that there are no genuine issues of fact t...

The court holds that the Eleventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not bar a citizen group that was denied attorney fees by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality from asserting a Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) claim against the state agency in federal court. The ...

The court holds that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was not constitutionally barred from considering a facility's boiler and industrial furnace (BIF) permit application while a federal government suit over the facility's alleged incineration of hazardous waste without a permit was pe...

The court refuses to approve a proposed consent decree requiring the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue a notice of proposed revisions to its hazardous waste identification rule by August 15, 1995, and to issue its final rules by December 15, 1996. The court first holds that a state...

The court holds that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did not violate the U.S. Constitution's Tenth Amendment or Spending Clause by imposing Clean Air Act (CAA) offset and highway sanctions against Missouri for its failure to properly implement its state implementation plan (SIP). The ...

The court holds that it lacks subject matter jurisdiction over third-party indemnification and duty-to-defend claims asserted by a defendant in a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Recovery Act (CERCLA) cost recovery action against its insurer. The claims are not closely enough ...

The court holds that when the state of New Jersey acts in its sovereign capacity to invoke the jurisdiction of a federal court to assert state-law claims against a waste hauler and its customers, it waives its Eleventh Amendment immunity with respect to contribution claims by third-party plaintiffs ...