The court holds that a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule establishing a bifurcated schedule for hazardous waste combustors to comply with strict new emission standards is arbitrary and capricious. The rule, promulgated under the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the Resource Conservation and Rec...

The court holds that the doctrine of sovereign immunity bars citizens from bringing suit against West Virginia state officials in federal court to enjoin the state from granting mountaintop mining permits. Citizens brought suit against the state officials alleging that in granting mountaintop coal m...

The court affirms a district court denial of summary judgment to a building industry association challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS') listing of four species of fairy shrimp that live in vernal pools in California as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA)....

The court affirms a district court holding that a city was liable for contributing to illegal dumping at two garbage dumps in violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and that the director of the state environmental agency could not be held liable for RCRA violations. Resident...

The court remands the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) hazardous air pollutant emission standards for hazardous waste combustors to the Agency because the standards fail to reflect the emissions achieved in practice by the best performing sources as required by the Clean Air Act (CAA)....

The court holds that the U.S. Department of the Interior's (DOI's) decision to withdraw a proposed rule recommending the flat-tailed horned lizard for protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was arbitrary and capricious. The lizard was identified as a candidate for listing under the ESA in...

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 vacates the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) approval of a county's Clean Air Act (CAA) new source review (NSR) program because EPA did not adequately assess whether the revised program would meet current attainment requirements. Before EPA approved the county's revised NSR progra...

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...