The court holds that the owners of a private septic system are liable under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA), state clean water laws, and the common law of public nuisance for discharging raw sewage into the Sakonnet River. The case is the consolidation of citizen suits filed by priva...

The court holds that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) implicitly preempts a town ordinance purporting to regulate the use of pesticides in the town. The court first holds that, while FIFRA does not contain any express preemption language, it does contain language indic...

The court holds that the analysis and conclusion of a Brooklyn development project's environmental impact statement (EIS) were reasonable with regard to the effect of the project on air quality standards in the area. In its final EIS, the city outlined mitigation measures designed to offset carbon m...

The court holds that an environmental organization's claim that the Wilderness Act creates federal reserved water rights is not ripe. The Sierra Club had alleged that the Forest Service's failure to claim wilderness water rights on ongoing water rights adjudications violated federal law and the publ...

The court, for the most part, holds that a group of commercial fishermen and subsistence users are entitled to a preliminary injunction of the Forest Service's authorization of logging activities that could increase the adverse environmental impact on stream fisheries in the Tongass National Forest....

The court holds that an electroplating and metal finishing plant owner is liable in a citizen suit under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) for violations of the Act's pretreatment standards and reporting requirements. The court first holds that plaintiffs need not show that defendant's...

The court holds that the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) procedures in issuing a permit under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) for the nation's largest hazardous waste management facility in Emelle, Alabama, were sufficient to exempt EPA from performing an environmental im...

The court finds that the conveyance of lakebed property by the state legislature to a university for campus expansion violates the public trust doctrine. The Illinois Legislature conveyed nearly 20 acres of lakebed to Loyola University of Chicago for a campus expansion plan, which included unrestric...

The court holds that plaintiff's action asking the court to invalidate a statutory lien placed on its property under §107(l) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) is an action for preenforcement review and thus is barred by CERCLA §113(h). The Enviro...

The court holds that challenges to a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Corps of Engineers on mitigation requirements under Federal Water Pollution Control Act §404(b)(1) guidelines are not ripe for review. Plaintiffs allege that the MOA's requir...