The court holds that the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) 1980 deferral of rulemaking addressing regional haze in national parks was final agency action under Clean Air Act (CAA) §307 reviewable only in the D.C. Circuit, and thus the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over a...

The court holds that a petroleum industry trade organization is not entitled to a preliminary injunction to halt implementation of New York's motor vehicle fuel volatility rule even though it is likely to succeed on the merits of its claim that Clean Air Act §211 preempts the state rule. After the ...

The court holds that the district court's application of the knowing endangerment provision of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) in the criminal trial of the operator of a drum recycling facility was not unconstitutionally vague. RCRA §3008(e) provides that any person who knowingly ...

The court holds that the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) notification that an insured is a potentially responsible party (PRP) under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) does not trigger an insurer's duty to defend. The policies at issue state ...

In a private cost recovery action under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), the court holds that the plaintiff does not have standing to allege that the costs of its pre-purchase investigation were caused by a release or a threatened release of hazardo...

The court rules that multiple awards of punitive damages for the same course of conduct violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The court first rules that actions for punitive damages are not sufficiently criminal in nature to trigger the protect...

The court rules that a Maine statute designed to protect outstanding rivers prohibits the construction of new dams on protected rivers and prohibits dam redevelopment that would diminish the river's significant resource values. The court holds that although the Maine legislature sought to encourage ...

The court holds that there is substantial evidence in the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) administrative record to support EPA's finding that an individual violated §301(a) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA), and that EPA did not abuse its discretion in assessing an admini...

The court holds that an environmental group may intervene in a Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) enforcement action brought by the United States against the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District. The court first holds that an environmental group, whose members visit, cross, observe, and us...

The court holds that a land purchaser's action to recover hazardous waste cleanup costs under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) from the seller and the seller's former tenant is not barred by an "as is" clause in the purchase agreement, CERCLA's third...