The court reverses a lower court summary judgment decision upholding the state department of toxic substance control's determination that virtually all corporations with 50 or more employees in the state must pay a hazardous materials charge. This determination amounts to a regulation under the stat...

A court grants in part and denies in part motions to dismiss land purchasers' Comprehensive, Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), negligence, fraud, and state-law claims against an environmental consulting firm and the prior owners. The prior owners sold the land without...

A court holds that a county did not effect a physical or regulatory taking when it imposed conditions on a landowner's permit to activate a well on its property. The conditional use permit limited the landowner from extracting no more than 12,000 acre/feet per year of water from the aquifer underlyi...

The court holds that a developer was not denied due process in connection with a local land use commission's hearing on his application for a coastal development permit. The developer claimed that telephone conversations with staff led him to believe that he did not need to appear at the hearing. Bu...

The court upholds a lower court decision that the United States has no obligation to reimburse a Florida county for the costs it incurred treating soil and groundwater contamination at the Miami International Air Depot. From 1943 to 1966, the U.S. government maintained and repaired U.S. Air Force ai...

The court upholds the dismissal of local water agencies' claims that the Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau) was operating the Central Valley Project (CVP) in a manner that would at some point in the future violate the Vernalis salinity standard, a state standard with which the Bureau must comply in its ...

The court affirms a lower court decision that under California law, an insurance company need not provide coverage for the costs property owners incurred responding to suspected soil and groundwater pollution. A state agency ordered the property owners to test their property after they were suspecte...

The court holds that the state water control board did not err in ordering a water company to obtain a permit to pump groundwater from two wells near the North Fork Gualala River. The board has permitting jurisdiction over "subterranean streams flowing through known and definite channels." The board...

The court holds that while §11.122(b) of the Texas Water Code significantly restricts the issues that may be reviewed in a contested-case proceeding, it does not altogether preclude one when a proposed water rights amendment requests a change in use but does not seek to increase the amount of w...

The court reverses and remands a lower court decision denying petitions brought by members of a federal grand jury empanelled to investigate possible environmental crimes at the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant in Colorado. The petitions seek the release of certain documents and the lifting of thei...