A California appellate court held that a trial court improperly denied a group's motion to preliminarily enjoin a school district from demolishing 49 housing units to make way for a new school under the power of eminent domain. The group argued that the environmental impact report for the project vi...

The Ninth Circuit upheld an injunction enjoining the California Air Resources Board from enforcing state regulations that limit emissions from the auxiliary diesel engines of ocean-going vessels within 24 miles of California's coast. Clean Air Act (CAA) §209(e)(2)(A) requires California to obta...

A Louisiana appellate court affirmed in part a lower court decision in favor of residents who brought a class action suit against New Orleans for converting a municipal landfill into a residential area in the Ninth Ward. The city was negligent in its actions and inactions that resulted in the conver...

A California appellate court affirmed a lower court judgment ordering a city to prepare an environmental impact report for a 120-unit senior housing facility, a 6,500 square-foot community senior center, and a four-acre public park. There is substantial evidence that the project's increase in popula...

A California appellate court affirmed a lower court decision denying a property owner's petition challenging changes to a city's zoning rules. The city's general land use plan initially called for future annexation of certain property owned by the plaintiff. In 2004, the city council adopted a new p...

An Illinois appellate court affirmed a lower court decision that an excavation and demolition company violated the Illinois Environmental Protection Act when it disposed of whole trees in a quarry. In a previous case, the court found that leaves are not "of the same nature as garbage or sludge which...

A California appellate court affirmed a lower court decision upholding amendments to the Water Quality Control Plan for the Sacramento and San Joaquin River basin. Defendants presented sufficient evidence to demonstrate that Deer Creek does not support a viable population of rainbow trout and that t...

The First Circuit denied Massachusetts' petition for review of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) order denying its request to participate directly in a re-licensing proceeding of two nuclear energy plants as a "party" before the agency issues its renewal decision. Massachusetts argued that it mu...

An Illinois appellate court reversed and remanded a preliminary injunction enjoining a farmer from constructing or operating a hog farm on his property. Completion of the hog confinement building does not constitute the construction of a "new facility" under the Illinois Livestock Management Facilit...

A California appellate court held that an environmental group's claims against a county concerning certain trails are not time barred. The group claimed that the county board approved activities with respect to the proposed trails without the requisite environmental review under the California Envir...