The court holds that the Mineral Management Service (MMS) did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in promulgating a development and production plan (DPP) under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) for an oil and gas development project located off the north coast of Ala...

The court reverses a district court decision and holds that a group of developers may intervene as of right in a suit brought by environmental groups against a city and against local, state, and federal officials for violating a state environmental plan and the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The city...

The court denies most of oil companies' motions to dismiss in a class action suit brought by individual well owners claiming that the companies knowingly caused methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) contamination of their groundwater. The court first holds that the claims of several of the class partic...

The court upholds the reversal of a trial court's grant of judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) in favor of a chemical manufacturer that was denied insurance coverage for soil, groundwater, and surface water pollution at one of its sites. Shortly after purchasing the site in 1964, the manufac...

The court holds that losses from environmental injury claims involving decades of commercial activities at numerous industrial and waste disposal sites may not be aggregated as a single disaster and/or casualty under an insurance policy between an insurer and its reinsurer. The insurer sought paymen...

The court vacates a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of a Vermont labeling statute as it applies to manufacturers of mercury-containing light bulbs. The court first holds that the lamp manufacturing association challenging the statute failed to show a likelihood of success on the merits of...

The court reverses a district court's decision dismissing building owners' U.S. Commerce Clause claims against a waste authority for lack of standing. The building owners maintained that the authority's implementation of a waste generation fee structure effectively forced them to use the local facil...

The court holds that the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) may require applicants for land allotments under the Alaska Native Allotment Act (ANAA) to prove personal use and occupancy independent of immediate family members prior to withdrawal of the land from the public domain. The IBLA denied t...

The court affirms the dismissal of a domestic utility company's allegation that the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPACT) unconstitutionally imposed monetary assessments on domestic utilities for the remediation of environmentally contaminated U.S. uranium processing facilities. Beginning in the 1960s, ...

The court reverses a lower court decision finding the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) liable for the permanent taking of a mining company's leasehold property. The mining company applied to the OSM for a permit and was told that its application was administratively incompl...