A district court dismissed a lawsuit filed by nongovernmental organizations and a group of minors claiming that six federal agencies violated their fiduciary duties to preserve and protect the atmosphere as a commonly shared public trust resource under the public trust doctrine. The public trust...

The Federal Circuit awarded a power company $17,021,742 in its suit against the U.S. government for the cost of storing spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste beyond the time that the government promised by contract to begin storing that waste in a permanent and secure reposit...

A district court held that a company may go forward with its RCRA claim against the former owner, but not the current owner, of adjacent property for groundwater contamination. The complaint contains sufficient factual allegations supporting the company's claim that the former owner of the neigh...

A district court held that a Canadian mining company, if found liable under CERCLA, will be subject to joint and several liability for response costs incurred by the state of Washington and a Native American tribe along a portion of the Upper Columbia River. In this case, the harm is the entiret...

The Virginia Supreme Court, upon rehearing a case, once again held that under Virginia law, an insurer has no duty to defend or indemnify an energy company in an underlying lawsuit brought by a native Alaskan village for damages allegedly caused by global warming through the emission of greenhou...

The Federal Circuit reversed in part a lower court's award of damages in favor of an energy company in a case involving the government's breach of its commitment to dispose of spent nuclear fuel. The court reversed the award of damages relating to the costs of operating a spent fuel pool after t...

A district court held that a property owner is not entitled to attorney fees from the U.S. government in an underlying case in which the government was found liable under RCRA for trichloroethylene contamination at the site. The lower court held that the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force were liable as...

A New Jersey appellate court held that two defendants in a state environmental cleanup suit may seek contribution from numerous third parties under the New Jersey Spill Compensation and Control Act. The state's environmental agency filed environmental cleanup suits against nine business entities...

A North Carolina appellate court held that a state statute that places limitations on the size and location of solid waste landfills does not violate the Commerce Clause by discriminating against out-of-state waste. It is undisputed that the statute, N.C. Gen. Stat. §130A-295.6 (2011), does not fac...