A district court dismissed residents' lawsuit against a city for allowing a metals finishing plant to use and store acids and other dangerous chemicals. The residents' only factual allegation against the city is that it zoned the property at issue as a commercial or industrial use area and allowed t...

A district court held that it would not waive the statute of limitations in a breach of contract case filed by the heirs of a cattle rancher against an oil company for contaminating the rancher's property. The suit stems from the company's oil and gas operations in the 1960s and 1970s. The statute o...

The Second Circuit, in a summary order, affirmed a lower court decision dismissing a property owner's lawsuit against a nearby gas station operator for contaminating the owner's shopping plaza and against a cleanup contractor for failing to detect the contamination or warn of its potential existence...

A district court ordered EPA to submit within 60 days a schedule on when it proposes to complete its review and revision of its RCRA Subtitle D coal ash regulations. In 1980, Congress amended RCRA by adding §3001(b)(3)(A)(ii), known as the Bevill Amendment, to prohibit EPA from regulating mining an...

A district court held that the Virgin Islands may go forward with its suit to recover response costs it incurred responding to the release of hazardous substances at a former alumina facility. Under CERCLA, at least some costs must be incurred prior to the start of litigation in order for a plaintif...

A district court held that a property owner may go forward with its CERCLA claims against several retail stores in connection with contamination stemming from the property, but dismissed the owner's RCRA claims. The owner entered into a consent order with Oklahoma's environmental agency that set for...

The Second Circuit vacated and remanded a lower court decision dismissing as time barred New York's CERCLA claims against several defendants for costs a town incurred investigating and addressing groundwater contamination stemming from the New Cassel Industrial Area. The lower court held that the st...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court's conviction of a chemical company owner for illegally storing hazardous wastes without a permit in violation of RCRA. On appeal, the owner argued that the lower court improperly instructed the jury about the distinction between "storage" and "disposal" of ha...

The Eighth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision that insurers had no duty to defend or indemnify an oil refinery in an underlying CERCLA lawsuit filed against it by EPA. EPA sent the refinery a letter in 2001 notifying it that it was a PRP. Because EPA's allegations in the letter arguably fell wi...

The Ninth Circuit held that an insurance company breached its duty to defend a trucking equipment company when it refused to provide a defense after the company received letters from EPA notifying it of its potential liability under CERCLA for environmental contamination at the Portland Harbor Super...