The Eleventh Circuit, in an unpublished opinion, held that recycled carpet waste, known as carpet selvedge, is a "recovered material" that has the potential for reuse and not a solid waste under RCRA or Georgia law. Accordingly, a carpet manufacturer that sent carpet selvedge to a site for recycling...

The Ninth Circuit upheld DOT's decision ordering a hazardous waste motor carrier to cease operations following an unsatisfactory safety rating. The carrier argued that the unsatisfactory safety rating on which the cessation order was based was premised on the misapplication of certain safety regulat...

The Louisiana Supreme Court held that a school district may seek remediation damages in excess of those required by state law from oil companies who engaged in oil exploration and production operations on school land. The district sought two types of damages: damages required under state law pursuan...

A California court rejected a challenge to the emissions offset component of California's greenhouse gas (GHG) cap-and-trade program promulgated by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) under the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. Under the program, all offsets must be additional, meaning tha...

The Court of Federal Claims held that the U.S. government need not reimburse oil companies for costs they incurred cleaning up contamination stemming from the production of aviation fuel during World War II. During the 1940s, at the urging of the U.S. government, the companies entered into contracts...

The Federal Circuit reversed and remanded a lower court decision dismissing an insurance company's reimbursement action under the National Defense Authorization Act for cleanup costs associated with the development of property formerly used as a military base. The lower court determined that the com...

A North Carolina court held that the state's environmental agency has the authority to require an egg farm to obtain a NPDES permit to prevent airborne pollutants from reaching state waters. The egg farm does not make any direct discharges into state waters, but ammonia and other pollutants may ente...