The Supreme Court of New Jersey reversed and remanded a lower court decision awarding $375,000 in damages to beachfront property owners whose oceanfront view was obstructed by a dune built to serve as a barrier from powerful storms and ocean surges. A city used its power of eminent domain to constru...

The U.S. Supreme Court held that a government's demand for property from a land use permit application must satisfy the "nexus" and "rough proportionality" requirements of Nollan v. California Coastal Comm'n, 483 U.S. 825, 17 ELR 20918 (1987), and Dolan v. City of Tigard, 512 U.S. 374, 24 ELR 21083 ...

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down portions of the Los Angeles port's "Clean Truck Program," which was designed in part to reduce emissions related to port operations, including emissions from trucks. The concession agreements implementing the plan set forth a number of provisions covering, among ot...

The U.S. Supreme Court held that Oklahoma statutes that favor in-state water appropriation permit applicants over out-of-state permit applicants do not violate the Commerce Clause and are not preempted by the Red River Water Compact—an interstate water compact that allocates water among Texas, Okl...

The Seventh Circuit upheld a FERC order allowing a regional electricity transmission system to apportion costs for new power lines necessary to bring power generated from wind farms in the Great Plains to urban centers among all the utilities drawing electricity from the grid. The costs would be all...

The Federal Circuit affirmed a lower court decision dismissing an individual's regulatory takings claim against the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for refusing to replace a bridge he used to access portions of land he leased from the Colorado River Indian Tribes. The individual did not claim that th...

The Federal Circuit reversed and remanded a lower court decision dismissing a developer's Fifth Amendment takings claim against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for denying its application for a CWA §404 wetlands fill permit. The property is located on a barrier island of Florida, much of which is ...

The U.S. Supreme Court held that government-induced flooding that is temporary in duration may constitute a takings and is not automatically exempt from Takings Clause inspection. The case arose after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers extended flooding from a dam into the Dave Donaldson Black River W...

A district court enjoined a county from enforcing a solid waste flow control ordinance that, among other things, requires all waste collected in the city to be disposed of at a city landfill. The city had entered into franchise contracts with a number of haulers that allowed them to dispose of waste...

A district court dismissed a quarry operator's lawsuit against the state environmental agency for violating its constitutional rights when it denied the operator's application to use certain fill material at a reclamation site. The state denied the application because the fill to be used at the site...