Tronox, Inc. v. Anadarko Petroleum Co.
A district court approved a $5.15 billion settlement agreement—the largest such recovery in American history—resolving two lawsuits in which a spin-off company and the U.S. government asserted fraudulent transfer and other claims against an energy company and its parent. In 2006, the energy comp...
Shell Gulf of Mexico, Inc. v. Center for Biological Diversity
The Ninth Circuit dismissed an oil company's Declaratory Judgment Act lawsuit against several environmental groups, seeking a declaration that the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement’s approval of two oil spill response plans under OPA for Alaska’s Beaufort and Chukchi Seas did not vi...
Next Millennium Realty LLC v. Adchem Corp.
A district court, on motions for partial summary judgment, dismissed a property owner's CERCLA claims against a lessee who subleased the property to a dry cleaner, who then allowed perchloroethylene to be released into groundwater. The owner sought contribution from the lessee for past and future en...
Anthony Wayne Corp. v. Elco Industries, Inc.
A district court denied a manufacturing company's motion to dismiss a landowner's state law claims against it for breach of contract and for waste, but granted the company's motion to dismiss the landowner's claims for cleanup costs under CERCLA and state law. Since 1972, the landowner has leased th...
Florida Power Corp. v. First Energy Corp.
The Sixth Circuit held that a Florida utility's lawsuit to recover cleanup costs it has incurred in connection with the release of hazardous substances at two manufactured gas plant sites is time barred under CERCLA. As a former owner of the site, the utility is a PRP even though it did not release ...
Shieldalloy Metallurgical Corp. v. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The D.C. Circuit upheld an NRC order transferring regulatory authority over decommissioning activities at a former aluminum production plant to the state of New Jersey under the Atomic Energy Act. New Jersey’s regulatory regime is adequate and compatible with the NRC’s regulatory program. And de...
Sovereign Operating Co. v. City & County of Broomfield
A Colorado court held that a voter-approved local ban on hydraulic fracturing cannot apply retroactively to ban oil and gas operations that a city approved in a prior agreement. The city entered into a memorandum of understanding in August 2013 allowing a company to engage oil and gas exploration an...