National Cotton Council of America v. United States Environmental Protection Agency
The Sixth Circuit vacated a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule exempting from the Clean Water Act's (CWA's) national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permitting requirements pesticides applied in accordance with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. The ...
Doe Run Resources Corp. v. Lexington Insurance Co.
The Eighth Circuit held that pollution exclusion clauses preclude an insurance company's duty to defend a lead producer in an underlying lawsuit alleging damages stemming from the release of hazardous wastes or toxic substances, but they do not preclude coverage in a lawsuit alleging that the lead p...
Doe Run Resources Corp. v. Lexington Insurance Co.
The Eighth Circuit held that under Missouri law, an insurance company has no duty to defend a lead producer in an underlying lawsuit alleging environmental property damage resulting from the lead producer's mine and mill operations. The policy contained an absolute pollution exclusion clause, and he...
Montana Environmental Information Center v. United States Bureau of Land Management
A district court dismissed environmental groups' claims that BLM failed to adequately consider climate change, global warming, and greenhouse gases (GHGs) in violation of NEPA before it approved oil and gas leases on federal land in Montana in 2008 and 2010. The groups argued that BLM's failure to f...
Chlorine Institute, Inc. v. Federal Rail Administration
The D.C. Circuit dismissed as unripe a trade association's lawsuit challenging portions of a Federal Rail Administration (FRA) rule that requires qualifying rail carriers to submit an implementation plan to install a "positive train control" (PTC) system no later than December 31, 2015, on certain t...
American Trucking Ass'ns v. Los Angeles, City of
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down portions of the Los Angeles port's "Clean Truck Program," which was designed in part to reduce emissions related to port operations, including emissions from trucks. The concession agreements implementing the plan set forth a number of provisions covering, among ot...