The court affirms a district court decision sentencing a corporation's owner to 15 months in jail, and one year of supervised release conditioned on the payment of a $60,000 municipal fine, for knowingly discharging excessive amounts of zinc and cyanide into a city sewer system in violation of the F...

The court holds that the National Environmental Policy Act requires the Army Corps of Engineers to update a 1975 environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Yazoo River Basin Flood Control Project before the EIS can serve as the basis for proposed levee construction. The court first finds that the ...

The court holds that plaintiffs in a Federal Water Pollution Control Act citizen suit have standing to sue the owner of a cattle feedlot, but have failed to prove ongoing violations on the merits. The court first holds that plaintiffs have standing under the standard established by the Supreme Court...

The court upholds an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrative decision assessing a $77,000 civil penalty under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act against plaintiff for placing liquid waste into a landfill without an impermeable liner. Plaintiff operates a landfill used to store h...

The court holds that the enactment of the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments relieves the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of its duty to promulgate a federal implementation plan (FIP) for the South Coast Air Basin (SCAB) in southern California. Under the prior version of the Clean Air Act, EPA reje...

The court approves a settlement agreement that resolves a Chapter 11 debtor's liability to the United States and North Carolina under the Comprehensive Environmental, Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The agreement requires the debtor to pay $2 million to a trust that will be used ...

The court holds that the Department of Energy's (DOE's) decision not to designate Inyo County, California, and Esmeralda County, Nevada, as local units of government affected by the Yucca Mountain High Level Nuclear Waste Repository Project was arbitrary and capricious. Under the Nuclear Waste Polic...

The court holds that on enactment, the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act's (SMCRA's) prohibition against surface mining of alluvial valley floors constituted a taking of a property owner's right to mine a single specific deposit of coal, requiring payment of $60 million plus interest in com...

The court holds that a failure by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to identify which portion of a tract of land in Louisiana required a dredge and fill permit under §404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) and a delay of almost 16 months in issuing dredge and fill permits to the trac...

The court holds that it lacks subject matter jurisdiction in a citizen suit under §505 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) to compel the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue numerical water quality standards for South San Francisco Bay. The court first holds that EPA does n...