A district court ruled that the District of Columbia's flushable wipe law won't take effect as scheduled. The law, which was to take effect January 1, 2018, stated that wipes labeled "flushable" must readily break up and degrade in sewers. A flushable wipes manufacturer sought to enjoin the implemen...

The Montana Supreme Court held that owners of private land within a Superfund site can proceed with a compensation suit against an oil company to restore their properties beyond the remedies approved by EPA for the Superfund site as a whole. An oil company entered into a consent decree with EPA to r...

The Federal Circuit held that the state of California did not infringe on an emissions trading-related patent, allowing the state's greenhouse gas emissions cap-and-trade program to continue. The plaintiff owns a U.S. patent that covers a method and apparatus for using electronic systems to claim an...

The California Supreme Court held that the charges a California city must pay to a local water district for groundwater conservation activities do not require voter or property owner approval. By statute, charges for pumping groundwater for nonagricultural uses generally must be at least three times...

The Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court's dismissal of a tribe's NEPA challenge to a DOI guidance that did not consider its interest when allocating the water rights of the Colorado River. The tribe contended that it was unlawfully excluded from DOI 2001 and 2008 guidances that outlined how water is ...

A district court held that an insurance company cannot back out of an insurance policy because a policyholder entered into a voluntary environmental cleanup agreement. The policyholder agreed to sell its land and allowed the buyer to do an environmental assessment. When contamination was discovered,...

A California appellate court reversed a lower court's judgment that directed a state water resources agency to file a report of waste discharges in violation of the state water quality law. An environmental organization alleged that the agency failed to institute measures to mitigate the flow of con...

The Ninth Circuit upheld the criminal conviction of a Montana resident for violations of the CWA. The resident was sentenced to 18 months in prison and had to pay a $130,000 fine for digging ponds and diverting a creek onto his land in Montana and the neighboring Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest...

A district court held that the federal government must answer claims that it is liable for the cleanup of World War II-era hazardous waste from 12 oil refineries in seven states. Property owners brought a contribution claim against the U.S. government under CERCLA, claiming that the government exerc...

A district court held that a water pollution case against carpet manufacturers belonged in state court as complete diversity did not exist, rejecting the carpet manufacturers' claim of fraudulent joinder. A sewer board (Board) brought suit against various manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, and ...