The court holds that the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) designation of an insured as a potentially responsible party (PRP) under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act does not trigger the insurer's duty to defend. The insured's policy requires the insur...

The court holds that conversion of an abandoned railroad right-of-way to a trail under §8(d) of the National Trails System Act does not violate the Contracts, Due Process, Commerce, or Takings Clauses of the Constitution regarding plaintiffs whose property is subject to the right-of-way. The court ...

The court holds that it lacks jurisdiction to review a challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) disapproval of a contractor selected by a potentially responsible party to perform removal work required by an EPA administrative order under §106 of the Comprehensive Environmental Res...

The court rules that, as a matter of law, the establishment and maintenance of wildlife areas in their natural condition does not amount to an unreasonable use of land or a nuisance. Damage to private property in the nature of a nuisance creates a cause of action sounding in inverse condemnation whe...

The court holds that the Army Corps of Engineers complied with the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and the Corps' own regulations when it issued a FWPCA §404 permit authorizing a land development company to fill 11 acres of wetlands to buil...

The court holds that the dumping of dredged materials at a site designated by the Corps of Engineers in Long Island Sound should not be enjoined pending Corps preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The court first holds that the NEP...

The court holds that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) revised backfit rule, which governs new or modified safety requirements on previously licensed nuclear power plants, is facially valid. NRC has specifically responded to the weaknesses of the 1985 rule by clarifying the ambiguities ide...

The court holds that an attack by the pulp and paper mill industry on the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) to object to proposed state-issued National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits is not ripe for re...

The court holds that citizen suits under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the Resource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA) are prohibited if based on wholly past violations, and when a state is granted authorization to operate its hazardous waste pr...

The court holds that an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) policy statement concerning dioxin tolerances in national pollutant discharge elimination system permits for paper mills using chlorine bleaching is not subject to judicial review under §509 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FW...