The court holds that Massachusetts' environmental superlien statute, which allows the commonwealth to place a priority lien on property after spending money assessing or cleaning up a polluted tract of land, evades the Bankruptcy Code's automatic stay provision. The case arose after Massachusetts so...

The court denies an environmental group's petition to review the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) approval of Maryland's revised motor vehicle emissions budget (MVEB) for the Baltimore ozone nonattainment area. In 1999, EPA determined that the MVEB in the state's attainment demonstrati...

The court upholds the conviction of a fertilizer company owner who allowed hazardous waste to be disposed of without a permit while knowing that his actions placed others in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury, but the court vacates a district court order requiring the owner to pay a $...

The court affirms a February 2001, district court order requiring the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make an air quality attainment status determination for the St. Louis, Missouri, area and to publish it in the Federal Register by March 20, 2001, and affirms a subsequent court order ...

The court grants an environmental group's motion for partial summary judgment against Pennsylvania officials for failing to implement the state-enhanced vehicle inspection and maintenance (I/M) program in 16 counties by November 15, 1999, as required by the Pennsylvania state implementation plan (SI...

The court upholds the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' decisions to deny permits that would have allowed landowners to build camp structures on their property in the Atchafalaya floodway in Louisiana. The landowners purchased their property subject to a perpetual flowage, channel, and disposal easement...

The court holds that the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) bars a current property owner's claim for cleanup costs against the property's former owner. The current owner filed a claim for injunctive relief against the former owner, and then proceeded to clean up the property before relie...

The court dismisses strict liability, nuisance, trespass, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) claims filed against the former sublessee of contaminated property where an underground storage tank (UST) leaked. The former sublessee operated a gasoline station at the site, which was next ...

The court holds that the permit administrator and South Carolina Coastal Council's denial of an application to build a new bulkhead on beachfront property in violation of the state Coastal Zone Management Act does not constitute an unconstitutional taking of the land between the existing and propose...

The court upholds a Connecticut municipality's regulation requiring owners of land partially within designated wetlands areas to obtain municipal approval before erecting structures on the land's nonwetlands portion. The court first holds that the regulation does not impermissibly expand the jurisdi...