A district court denied an electric company's motion for reconsideration of a previous ruling that genuine issues of material fact preclude a finding of summary judgment in a contribution case concerning the Ward Transformer Superfund site. The court had issued two orders concerning the site—one i...

A district court held that community service having a value no more than $500,000 would be an appropriate sentence for a pipeline operator that stored liquid mercury at one of its facilities without a permit. Below, a trial court imposed an $18 million fine against the company, but the sentence was ...

The Eleventh Circuit, in an unpublished opinion, reversed and remanded a lower court decision dismissing a company's cost recovery action under CERCLA for failure to state a claim. The lower court granted the motion to dismiss upon a finding that a "no-listing letter" from the Georgia Environmental ...

The Federal Circuit held that the United States may not use the "unavoidable delay" defense in breach of contract actions stemming from its failure to accept spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from the nation's nuclear utilities. The Standard Contract provided that DOE was to begin accepting SNF no later than...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of an environmental group's citizen suit against two electric companies alleging that their utility poles discharged wood preservative into the environment in violation of the CWA and RCRA. The group failed to state a claim under the CWA because discharges of...

The Fourth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision allocating response costs to various PRPs in connection with the cleanup of hazardous substances at a former fertilizer manufacturing site in Charleston, South Carolina. After incurring response costs, the current owner of a portion of the site brou...

A district court held that genuine issues of material fact preclude a grant of summary judgment in a petroleum distributor's contribution claim against an oil company for costs incurred cleaning up hazardous substance contamination at a gas station and bulk petroleum storage plant formerly leased by...

A district court stayed a bankrupt mining company's contribution claims against various defendants for response costs and natural resource damages incurred in connection with the Tri-States Mining District until the amount of total liabilities are determined. The Tri-States area, where lead and zinc...

The Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of an insurance company's subrogation suit for recovery of insurance payments made to its insured for environmental response costs the insured incurred cleaning up pollutants released on its property. The company claimed that the defendants should be held joint...

A Michigan appellate court held that Michigan's Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act does not preempt a local ordinance requiring all septic tank waste collected from within a township to be taken to a specific treatment facility. Although the state legislature enacted a comprehensive ...