The Sixth Circuit dismissed environmental groups' petition to review air pollution control permits issued by Ohio's Environmental Protection Agency for two natural gas compressor stations along a natural gas pipeline that runs from Ohio to Michigan. The groups argued that the permits were invalid be...

A district court denied public interest groups' motion for partial summary judgment in challenging an Executive Order that required federal agencies to repeal two existing rules for each new rule promulgated. The groups argued they established associational standing based on injuries that two of the...

A district court denied environmental groups' motion to preliminarily enjoin a pipeline company from continuing construction on an oil pipeline in the Atchafalaya Basin. The groups sought the injunction to prevent alleged irreparable harm to the basin, arguing that the company was violating key perm...

The Arizona Supreme Court vacated a ruling that a Native American tribe sufficiently alleged standing to bring a public nuisance claim against a resort using reclaimed wastewater to make artificial snow on the San Francisco Peaks in northern Arizona. Before the lower court, the tribe argued that the...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court's ruling that a Canadian smelter company that dumped several million tons of industrial waste into the Columbia River was liable for a Native American tribe's response costs. The company argued that CERCLA did not allow the tribe to recover its costs of es...

The Second Circuit affirmed a lower court decision that CERCLA preempts state tort law claims brought by residents living near the Onondaga Lake Superfund site. The owner of the site undertook remedial action pursuant to a federal consent decree. The residents argued, on a state tort law theory, tha...

The D.C. Circuit vacated EPA's placement of the West Vermont Drinking Water Contamination site, a site of groundwater contamination beneath Indianapolis, Indiana, on the NPL. EPA used the hazard ranking system (HRS) to determine whether listing was appropriate. As part of that process, EPA assessed ...

The Ninth Circuit held that a property owner who purchased the site at a tax sale is not entitled to CERCLA's third-party defense to liability for cleanup costs. The purchaser had a "contractual relationship" with the prior owner by virtue of the tax sale. Given the breadth of CERCLA's definition of...