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 affirms a district court decision rejecting an environmental group's claims for attorney fees in connection with their lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) in which they sought the listing of the Arkansas River shiner as an endangered or threatened species under the En...

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 district court denial of an environmental group's motion for a preliminary injunction to stay the U.S. Department of the Navy's exercises on the island of Vieques near Puerto Rico. The group alleged that the Navy violated certain Endangered Species Act (ESA) §7 procedural requir...

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 affirms a district court dismissal of a commercial fisherman association's challenge to a fishery management plan (FMP) regulation, known as Framework 25, that instituted year-round closure of a fishing area and required rolling closures of inshore ports along the Gulf of Maine. The New En...

The court holds that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Buckhannon Board & Care Home, Inc. v. West Virginia Department of Health & Human Resources, 532 U.S. 598 (2001), did not prohibit the use of the catalyst test as a basis for awarding attorney fees and costs under the Endangered Specie...

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 holds that the Secretary of Commerce's adoption of a fishery conservation amendment to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan does not violate the Magnuson Act or the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA). The amendment sets annual allowable catch targets for regulated species, orch...