A California appellate court held that the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) may add chemicals to California's Proposition 65 list using the methodology set forth in Cal. Health & Safety Code §25249.8(a). Proposition 65 requires the government to publish a list of ch...

A district court held that the U.S. Forest Service's Public Wheeled Motorized Travel Management Decision for the Eldorado National Forest violated the ESA and the National Forest Management Act. The decision designates specific roads and trails within the forest as open to public motor vehicle ...

A district court denied a defendant company's motion to dismiss a distribution center's claim for injunctive relief and damages under various causes of action based on environmental contamination on property managed by the defendant. Specifically, the plaintiff alleged that the company is not meetin...

A district court held that a consent decree settling an electric company's CERCLA liability with EPA and granting it contribution protection against additional CERCLA liability at an industrial site does not provide the company with contribution protection from a defense company's action seeking dam...

The Seventh Circuit denied environmental groups' petitions challenging EPA's approval of revisions to Wisconsin's new source review program. In 2002, EPA changed the rules that determine when polluters need permits in order to modify existing facilities—and, if they need permits, what restrictions...

A district court held that an insurer has no duty to defend or indemnify a dry cleaner for PCE pollution stemming from repeated flooding under the terms of its insurance policy. The policy contained a pollution exclusion clause, and the dry cleaner argued that the exception for sudden and accid...

The D.C. Circuit set aside an order of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission denying a mining company's application for temporary relief from restrictions that the Mine Safety and Health Administration imposed on it in conjunction with its investigation of an explosion at one of its m...

The First Circuit upheld the dismissal of a developer's federal takings claim against two state agencies for restricting its development of a coastal residential subdivision in Rhode Island. In Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City, 473 U.S. 172 (19...

The Third Circuit reversed a lower court order granting an oil company's application to engage in discovery for use in an environmental class action before an Ecuadorian court under 28 U.S.C. §1782(a). The lower court ruled that the attorney-client privilege asserted by the Ecuadorian plaintif...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and vacated in part a lower court decision largely granting summary judgment in favor of the U.S. Forest Service on environmental groups' and California's NEPA and NFMA claims challenging the agency's 2004 Sierra Nevada forest plan amendment and a timber harve...