The New Jersey Superior Court upheld an oil company's $225 million Spill Act settlement in connection with contamination at two oil refineries in Bayonne and Linden, New Jersey. The natural resources damages were estimated at $8.9 billion. In a settlement agreement, the New Jersey Department of Envi...

The Arizona Court of Appeals held that a tribe may proceed with its nuisance claim against a ski resort for its use of reclaimed wastewater to make artificial snow. In 2002, the ski resort contracted to purchase reclaimed wastewater for the purpose of making artificial snow. In 2005, the Forest Serv...

The D.C. Circuit held that EPA unlawfully revoked the 1997 ozone NAAQS when it implemented the 2008 standard. In 2008, EPA set the ozone NAAQS at 75 parts per billion (ppb). In 2015, when implementing the standard, the Agency eliminated the 1997 standard of 84 ppb on the grounds that it was impossib...

The Ninth Circuit held that Maui County is liable for illegally discharging treated wastewater that seeped through groundwater into the Pacific Ocean. The County owns and operates four wells at the Lahaina Wastewater Reclamation Facility (“LWRF”), the principal municipal wastewater treatment pla...

A district court held that a California city does not have to pay a settlement to a dry cleaner for chemical contamination near his property per a condition of their settlement agreement. After discovering a perchloroethylene (PCE) contamination plume in downtown Visalia, California, the California ...

A district court held that EPA failed to act when it did not rule within 60 days on Connecticut's petition concerning upwind pollution. In June 2016, Connecticut filed a petition pursuant to §126(b) of the CAA for EPA to make a finding that Brunner Island is emitting air pollutants that significant...

The Michigan Court of Appeals held that a class action case involving the Flint water crisis can proceed. Citizens of Flint formed a class and sued Michigan officials for their "deliberate" decision to expose them to toxic water from the Flint River. The citizens alleged that their due process right...

The First Circuit held that stormwater running off parking lots and other paved surfaces at Harvard, MIT, and other Boston-area universities will remain unregulated even though it may be polluting the Charles River and its tributaries. An environmental group sought to compel EPA to regulate the disc...

The Court of Federal Claims held that a land owner is entitled to compensation for wells and an access road installed to monitor contamination on a property adjacent to Fort Detrick. A Maryland landowner was faced with a demand under CERCLA from EPA for access to his property to install wells for th...

The Delaware Supreme Court held that an energy company's shareholders cannot proceed with their suit against the company's directors and officers over the costs of addressing a coal ash spill into North Carolina's Dan River. In 2014, a storm water pipe ruptured beneath a coal ash containment pond, r...