The Ninth Circuit reversed a district court's partial grant of summary judgment for cattle ranchers in a challenge to the Forest Service's decision to apply 1995 riparian mitigation measures to an allotment in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. The ranchers argued that the Service's decision ...
A district court dismissed a RCRA citizen suit brought against present and former owners of chemical plants for allegedly releasing radioactive slag deposited on landowners' properties in New York. The landowners sought injunctive relief under RCRA, including ordering the plant owners to evaluate ea...
A magistrate judge dismissed a lawsuit concerning ownership of a grazing allotment in the Apache National Forest. Ranchers argued the allotment was privately owned and thus relieved them of any obligation to obtain a cattle grazing permit from the Forest Service or to comply with the permit's requir...
A district court denied an Apache group's motion to preliminarily enjoin the exchange of sacred land in Tonto National Forest to two foreign mining companies for mineral exploration. The group argued the land was held in trust by the U.S. government for the Western Apaches through an 1852 treaty, an...
I magine, on account of an economic downturn associated with massive defense spending, or a change in regulatory philosophy, or a pandemic, the U.S. Congress enacted legislation duly signed by the president to sell virtually all federal wild lands to the highest bidder without restriction. Would such action be constitutional?
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a toxic, environmentally persistent class of chemicals that have been used widely in consumer products. Despite growing evidence of adverse health effects associated with PFAS exposure, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not yet promulgated a legally enforceable standard for any of the individual chemicals in the PFAS group. This has resulted in largely unrestricted disposal of PFAS waste and dispersal of these persistent chemicals throughout the environment.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court ruling in a lawsuit concerning the U.S. government's and California's recovery of cleanup costs from a hazardous waste spill in the Sierra Nevada foothills that released toxic amounts of arsenic into local groundwater. Plaintiffs sued the company that had acq...
The Tenth Circuit upheld a lower court ruling ordering mining and finance companies to comply with EPA's requests for information related to cleanup of a contaminated site in Utah. The companies argued that EPA exceeded its authority under CERCLA when it issued the information requests, the requests...
A district court held that an oil company was liable for a plume of gasoline beneath a former gasoline station that was migrating toward nearby housing units in White Plains, New York. A housing authority brought claims under RCRA, arguing its property was contaminated by discharges of gasoline and ...
The Third Circuit held that a PRP's settlement with New Jersey resolving its state-law liability in connection with contamination at a municipal landfill did not protect the party from lawsuits seeking contribution toward expenditures made by EPA on the same site. The district court had concluded th...