The Tenth Circuit held that Oklahoma statutes that favor in-state water appropriation permit applicants over out-of-state permit applicants do not violate the Commerce Clause. The case arose after a Texas water district sought permits to appropriate water from Oklahoma for use in Texas. Because Okla...
A California appellate court reversed a lower court decision denying a gasoline station owner's petition challenging the validity of $1,148,200 in civil penalties imposed against him by a county for underground gasoline storage tanks violations. The county issued an enforcement order to the owne...
A California appellate court held that a county complied with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) prior to approving the development of a large beverage distribution facility project. The plaintiff argued that the county failed to give the regional air quality district proper notice ...
A district court preliminarily enjoined the California transportation agency's proposal to widen a highway that runs through old-growth redwood trees in Richardson Grove State Park. Environmental groups challenged the project under NEPA, the Department of Transportation Act, the Wild and Scenic Rive...
A New York appellate court affirmed a lower court decision denying a company's motion for summary judgment in property owners' suit concerning damages arising from the discharge of trichloroethylene (TCE) into the ground from an industrial plant formerly operated by the company. The court properly d...
A Montana court preliminarily enjoined the state transportation agency from issuing permits to an oil company that would allow it to transport oversized oilfield equipment through the state to the Canadian border for use in tar sand and mining production in Alberta. The agency conducted an EA u...
California's highest court reversed a lower court decision that a city needed to prepare an environmental impact report (EIR) for a local ordinance banning the use of plastic bags by local businesses. The court agreed that the plaintiff, a coalition of plastic bag manufacturers and distributors, had...
The Supreme Court of Wisconsin upheld the state environmental agency's decision to issue a permit to a town for a municipal well. Two groups challenged the agency's decision to issue the permit without considering the well's potential impact on nearby Lake Beulah, a navigable water. A circuit c...
A California appellate court dismissed a mobile home park owner's complaint challenging a city's environmental impact report (EIR) for a planned railroad grade separation project under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Below, the county transportation authority intervened in the ...
A California appellate court held that an insurance company has no duty to defend or indemnify a cosmetics company in an underlying action alleging that it violated Proposition 65, the California Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act. The Proposition 65 claim being asserted against the compa...