An appellate court upholds a local water agency ordinance that increases the groundwater augmentation fee to be charged to operators of wells within its jurisdiction. None of the agency board members voting for the augmentation charge had a disqualifying financial interest in approving the ordinance...

An appellate court holds that an insurer has no duty to defend or indemnify a company in underlying actions concerning its unauthorized discharge of fill material into a creek. The discharges occurred after the company placed fill dirt along a road so that it could access a quarry. As a result of th...

The court reverses and remands a grant of summary judgment in a manufacturer's suit for indemnification arising out of environmental cleanup costs at four sites in Illinois and Indiana. Under Illinois law, the duty to indemnify may arise even in the absence of a lawsuit triggering the duty to defend...

An appellate court orders a city to rescind its decision certifying an environmental impact report (EIR) for a redevelopment project that would convert an unused historic building into a retail hardware and garden supply center. Under the California Environmental Quality Act's EIR guidelines, the ci...

The court holds that the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) and its implementing regulations do not preempt Arkansas regulations governing captive-reared mallard ducks. Captive-bred ducks do not fall within the MBTA's scope of federal permitting requirements, and nothing in the MBTA prohibits a state ...

The court denies Nevada's petition for review of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) final environmental impact statement (EIS) for a nuclear waste underground repository and a portion of its record of decision governing the transportation of nuclear waste from production sources to Yucca Mounta...

The court holds that a municipality's appropriation of private property based on its determination that it was in an area that may deteriorate in the future is unconstitutional. In Kelo v. City of New London, 125 S. Ct. 2655, 35 ELR 20134 (2005), the U.S. Supreme Court held that economic factors may...

A California appellate court upholds the dismissal of property owners' claims against a reclamation district for property damage caused by breached levees. The owners' takings claims fail because under California law, the defective maintenance of flood control or water retention systems does not pro...

A California appellate court affirms, with modifications, a lower court's reversal of the state forestry agency's timber harvest plan for a 13-acre parcel of land in Sonoma County. Contrary to the lower court's findings, there is substantial evidence to support the state agency's ultimate finding re...

The court grants in part and denies in part numerous petitions for review of a series of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) orders relating to refunds stemming from the California energy crisis in 2000 and 2001. All of the transactions at issue that occurred within the California Power Exch...