A court partially reverses a lower court judgment granting cities' petition for writ of mandate against state and regional water boards for adopting a total maximum daily load (TMDL) that established a numeric target of zero trash discharge from municipal storm drains into the Los Angeles River. The...
A California appellate court rejects two cities' challenges to a regional water board's comprehensive municipal storm sewer permit governing 18 public local entities in San Bernardino County, California. The permit imposes conditions on storm sewers that carry excess water runoff to the Santa Ana Ri...
The court affirms a lower court's grant of summary judgment in favor of a trade association declaring that a county's proposed ordinance involving waste disposal is unconstitutional and enjoining the county from its enforcement. By forcing the trade association's members to use the county's disposal...
The court holds that the Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act and its implementing regulations do not provide the exclusive mechanism through which regional and state water control boards may address water quality concerns implicated by logging operations associated with a timber harvest plan. After t...
A court holds that a lower court erred in denying a citizen group's petition challenging the California Department of Food and Agriculture's (DFA's) certification of a program for controlling a crop disease with pesticides. The DFA abused its discretion by failing to fulfill its obligation under the...
A court holds that a city did not unlawfully surrender its police power or improperly amend its general plan by entering into a settlement agreement to resolve environmental litigation brought against it. The case arose after the city council, in light of the settlement agreement, voted to approve a...
The court holds that the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002 preempts a city's regulatory efforts to provide safety oversight of a hazardous liquid pipeline within city boundaries. After a section of a hazardous liquid pipeline exploded in Seattle, Washington, the city refused to renew the pipel...
A court upholds the dismissal of an individual's claims against a state agency and corporations for failing to provide convenient, economical, and efficient beverage container redemption opportunities as required by the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act. The lower cour...
A court partially grants the U.S. motion to collaterally estop defendants from denying their liability as owners and operators of the Armour Road Superfund site in North Kansas City, Missouri. Except for one of the defendants, prior actions against the defendants were final, or sufficiently final, t...
A court partially grants the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) and individuals' motions to dismiss a class action suit stemming from plaintiffs' exposure to hazardous substances in the interior of their residences, schools, and workplaces as a result of the dust and debris released from...