The court holds that a real estate developer, whose proposed subdivision plat for land in Santa Fe, New Mexico, met all enumerated requirements for plat approval, was not entitled to approval of its proposed plat as a matter of federal constitutional law. The case arose after the city council revers...
On June 18, 2001, all eight governors of the Great Lakes states and the premiers of the two Canadian provinces bordering the Great Lakes basin gathered at the impressive Prospect Point in Niagara Falls to sign a sweeping joint declaration. Known as "Annex 2001," the document is a supplementary agreement to the Great Lakes Charter of 1985. But unlike the loose and informal charter, Annex 2001 commits this diverse and multipartisan group of political leaders to find a way to collectively manage the Great Lakes basin.
Through the post-World War II era the U.S. Congress, by an incremental process of experimentation and error, developed the knowledge and experience that led to the imposition of individual permits based on uniform technology-based effluent limitations to regulate industrial water pollution. The resulting permit system has gradually reduced the amount of industrial pollution that enters our national waterways.
Agricultural biotechnology has generated much debate about the environmental consequences of field trials and commercialization of transgenic crops. Thus far, the debate has focused on opponents' claims of alleged risks presented by transgenic crops and the proponents' responses to those asserted risks. To date, three issues have dominated the debate:
. the risk of gene flow;
. the risk of weediness; and
. the risk of insect-resistance.
In recent years, the western states have often struggled with the federal government over control and management of natural resources, particularly water. For its part, federal law defers to states in many matters of water resource allocation.
The court holds that zoning regulations of a state commission that limit the use of land in an environmentally sensitive area protected under federal law do not constitute an unconstitutional taking of private property. Congress established the Pinelands National Reserve in New Jersey under the Nati...
The court holds that the statistical methodologies used by the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission in promulgating water quality standards for cadmium, lead, and silver in the North Fork of the South Platte River were not compatible with water quality data, and the standards are thus based on ...
The court rules that the final environmental impact report that resulted in issuance of a conditional use permit for the construction and operation of a hazardous waste incinerator at the Kettleman Hills site in Kings County, California, was inadequate as an informational document under the Californ...
The court, applying Pennsylvania law, holds that an insured cannot recover the costs of a state-mandated cleanup of hazardous waste under general liability insurance policies. The court first holds that Pennsylvania rather than New Jersey law applies. Pennsylvania was the place of contracting and pe...
The court holds that under Colorado law, the pollution exclusion clause in a comprehensive general liability insurance policy bars coverage for environmental response costs sought by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in connection with a wood product company's discharge of waste materia...