A district court upheld National Park Service (NPS) regulations restricting off-road vehicle (ORV) use in North Carolina's Cape Hatteras National Seashore at certain times of the year. Petitioners argued the rule was arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, and otherwise not in accordance w...
The Supreme Court of Texas held that an oil and gas company may use a road on landowner's property to access its underground mineral rights. The company held an interest oil and gas rights under the landowners' property in addition to several adjoining tracts. In 2000, it pooled the tracts, thereby ...
The Supreme Court of Alaska upheld a ballot initiative that would require legislative approval of the any new large-scale metallic sulfide mining operation—the Pebble Mine gold and copper project—in the Bristol Bay watershed. Despite mining associations' arguments to the contrary, the "Bristol B...
The D.C. Circuit held that FERC violated NEPA when it approved the expansion of a natural gas pipeline in the Northeast. The project will upgrade a portion of a much longer natural gas pipeline known as the 300 Line. An environmental group challenged the approval, arguing that FERC violated NEPA whe...
The U.S. Supreme Court held that CERCLA §309 does not preempt a state's statute of repose. The case arose after property owners filed suit against a manufacturing company for alleged groundwater contamination stemming from chemicals stored on property the company sold 24 years ago. The company argu...
The Sixth Circuit held that DOE's environmental review of a proposed plant that would convert lumber into ethanol complied with NEPA. The company that plans to build the plant sought financial assistance from DOE, which is directed to fund alternative energy projects under the Energy Policy Act of 2...
A New York appellate court held that the subsequent owner of property formerly used as a permitted hazardous waste treatment, storage, or disposal (TSD) facility need not provide financial assurance for the ongoing performance of corrective action on the property. Article 27 of New York's Environmen...
A district court held that an insurance company breached its duty to defend a steel company in an underlying contribution case under Montana's Comprehensive Environmental Cleanup and Responsibility Act (CERCA) stemming from the company's alleged release or threatened release of hazardous substances ...
The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court decision denying environmental groups’ motion to preliminarily enjoin a logging project in the Whitman-Wallowa National Forest in northeast Oregon. The lower court held that the groups were not likely to succeed on any of their ...
A district court held that a conservative nonprofit group lacked standing on four of its six claims challenging Colorado's renewable energy standard (RES), which requires utilities to obtain at least 30% percent of its energy from renewable sources by the year 2020. The group claimed that three disc...