The Supreme Court of New Jersey affirmed a lower court decision dismissing the state environmental agency's contribution action against a dry cleaner under the New Jersey Spill Compensation and Control Act to recover costs incurred in investigating and remediating PCE-contaminated groundwater. The a...
The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision dismissing gold miners' suit against the U.S. Forest Service challenging its decision to limit the use of motor vehicles to certain roads in the El Dorado National Forest. The miners have standing to pursue their claim. At least some of the miners ha...
The Ninth Circuit held that the U.S. Forest Service complied with NEPA and the NFMA when it approved a fuels reduction project in the Lewis and Clark National Forest. The project involves understory thinning and burning to mitigate the risk of wildfire in the Middle Fork Judith Wilderness Study Area...
The Ninth Circuit held that the U.S. Forest Service's Angora Fire Restoration Project in the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) complies with the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) and NEPA. Environmental groups argued that the NMFA required the Forest Service to demonstrate at the project ...
A California appellate court reversed a lower court decision dismissing environmental groups' lawsuit against a city for violating the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in connection with its approval of a company's proposal to build a large distribution facility. The city filed a notice o...
The Tenth Circuit upheld the DOI Secretary's decision to rescind 77 oil and gas leases on federal land around national parks in Utah. BLM auctioned the oil and gas leases to energy companies in late 2008 during the last weeks of the George W. Bush administration. After the auction but before the lea...
The Supreme Court of Hawaii vacated and remanded the interim instream flow standards set by Hawaii's Commission on Water Resource Management for the Waihe'e River and the Waiehu, 'Iao, and Waikapu streams, collectively referred to as Na Wai 'Eha, or "the four great waters of Maui." In considering th...