The Fifth Circuit held that a corporation should not be held liable as an arranger under CERCLA for costs associated with cleaning up a plume of perchloroethylene (PERC) that discharged from a dry cleaning business that operated in the 1960s and 1970s. A district court in 2006 had held the corporati...
A district court granted in part and denied in part a motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit against a Canadian mining company for allegedly causing individuals residing near the Upper Columbia River to suffer various health diseases due to toxic and hazardous air emissions from the company's smel...
A district court held that a dairy's application, storage, and management of manure violated RCRA's substantial and imminent endangerment and open dumping provisions. Manure can generally be a useful product when stored and subsequently used as fertilizer. Here, however, the dairy applied manure in ...
A district court struck down California's sales ban on foie gras—a delicacy made from fattened duck liver. Foie gras producers and sellers argued that the federal Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA) preempts the ban, Cal. Health & Safety Code §25982, and the court agreed. The PPIA expressl...
A district court denied a swine farm's motion to strike an environmental group's request for a jury trial in their CWA and RCRA citizen suit. The group's citizen suit alleged that the farm illegally dumped swine waste onto surrounding lands and waters in violation of the two statutes. The farm argue...
A Pennsylvania court held that the state legislature acted within its constitutional authority when it gave itself the power to transfer money out of a special account, funded by oil and gas revenue from state lands, that had been set aside for conservation projects; but that the state's Department ...
The Nebraska Supreme Court upheld state legislation enacted in 2012 that permits major oil pipeline carriers to obtain approval from the governor to exercise the power of eminent domain for building a pipeline—such as the controversial Keystone XL—in Nebraska. A lower court held that the law was...