The court rejects the use of the practicably irrigable acreage (PIA) test as the exclusive quantification measure for determining water rights on Native American reservations and instead creates a new list of factors to be considered in determining reserved water amounts. Under Winters v. United Sta...
The court denies an environmental remediation specialist's claims that a port commission owed it money for cleaning up property leased by the commission. A chemical manufacturer leased land from the port commission. Upon discovering contamination on the property, the manufacturer hired the environme...
The court reverses a district court's blanket equitable exemption of intra-farm transfers from Nevada's law of forfeiture and abandonment and holds that equity may be appropriate only in the forfeiture context under certain circumstances. In a prolonged litigation regarding water rights from the Tru...
The court reverses a district court decision holding that an environmental group's claims against the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for failing to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or the Endangered Species Act (ESA) before issuing a road easement are not ripe. Although DOE ...
The court holds that a trial court improperly stayed proceedings in which Native American tribes sought damages from the United States for failure to manage certain tribal lands. The court first holds that the reason for the stay—the need to quiet title to the tribal lands before the case can proc...
A court dismisses two consolidated appeals that pertain to the construction and development of an interstate natural gas storage facility in New York. The first appeal was brought by the project developer who was concerned about the possible preclusive effect of the lower court's dismissal of a citi...
The court reverses a district court decision that set aside a jury verdict award of $500,000 in compensatory damages to a service station for the remediation of contamination caused by a neighboring oil company's negligent petroleum discharge. The court first holds that the district court erred in g...
The court holds that Arkansas law does not allow the tolling of the statute of limitations where there is no evidence of fraudulent concealment in a timber company's wrongfully removed minerals action against a chemical corporation. The court first notes that the Arkansas Supreme Court had the chanc...
The court holds that groups who challenged a state's decision to add a company to the U.S. Department of the Army's license to operate a chemical demilitarization facility are estopped from challenging that company's licensure in federal court. The court first holds that the issues presented in the ...
The court upholds a district court's order affirming the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM's) denial of plaintiff-appellant's request for a coal lease suspension pursuant to §39 of the Mineral Leasing Act. The court first holds that the district court's decision affirming BLM's denial of a §39 susp...