The court rules that state laws regulating the transportation of hazardous materials by rail are governed by the strict preemption provisions of the Federal Railroad Safety Act (FRSA) rather than the more liberal preemption provisions of the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (HMTA). The court f...
The court holds that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has exclusive authority under the Federal Power Act (FPA) to set hydroelectric power project minimum water flow rates. The court first holds that the degree of deference owed to FERC's interpretation of the FPA is considerably rela...
The court holds that private plaintiffs seeking reimbursement under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of their closure costs at a sanitary landfill have failed to establish that their response costs are consistent with the National Contingency Plan. Plaintiffs...
The court rules that the petroleum exclusion in §101(14) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) applies to leaded gasoline. CERCLA §101(14)(F) excludes "petroleum, including crude oil and any fraction thereof not specifically listed as a hazardous sub...
On remand from the United States Supreme Court, the court holds that an interim county flood control ordinance prohibiting construction on plaintiff's property did not constitute a taking. After all the buildings on plaintiff's private campground were destroyed in a flood, the county passed an inter...
The court holds that the liability exemption under Comprehensive Environmental Reponse, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) §107(f) for natural resource damages that were identified in an environmental impact statement (EIS) does not apply to damages from activities before the EIS was issued. ...
The court generally upholds the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) regulations implementing the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act's (RCRA's) prohibition on land disposal of hazardous solvents and dioxins. The court first holds that EPA's decision to use technology-based standards alone, ...
The court holds that defendant is liable, under §107 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), for all response costs incurred by plaintiff in cleaning up a site plaintiff purchased from defendant in 1970. Defendant is successor by merger to a typewriter...
The court holds that the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) registration of strychnine for above-ground use as a rodenticide, in force during the administrative review process under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), resulted in unauthorized takings of protected ...
The court holds that §309 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) does not preempt a Maryland statute of repose in a private-party asbestos-removal action against a manufacturer, and the manufacturer's alleged fraudulent concealment of the product's haz...