The Hawaii Supreme Court held that the “right to a clean and healthful environment” as set forth in the Hawaii Constitution gives citizens the right to be heard and protect their environmental interests in cases before the state Public Utilities Commission. A Hawaiian electric company sought the...
The Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court's decision rejecting challenges to a mining company's uranium mining rights on public lands around Grand Canyon National Park. In 1988, the Forest Service approved a plan to build and operate the Canyon Mine, a uranium mine in the area around Red Butte...
The Ninth Circuit rejected challleges to a 2012 DOI decision to withdraw from new uranium mining claims, up to twenty years, over one million acres of land near Grand Canyon National Park. The lands were withdrawn, subject to existing valid claims, with the intent to protect water resources in...
The First Circuit held that a pesticide company is not liable for cleaning up PCB-laden caulk installed in a Massachusetts middle school in the 1960s. Before August 1970, the pesticide company sold PCB mixtures to formulators of building materials, who then incorporated them into various end...
A district court held that the California Public Utilities Commission's tariff program for small renewables, known as the Renewable Market Adjusting Tariff (Re-MAT), violates the federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA). A solar company challenged the Re-MAT program, arguing that...