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<i>Waterkeeper Alliance, Inc. v. EPA</i>: Why It Is Important

Editors' Summary: On February 28, 2005, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated and remanded portions of EPA's concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) rule. The ruling was not a win for either side of the debate, as it requires permitting authorities to review and incorporate nutrient management plans into their permits, but prevents EPA from requiring CAFOs to apply for permits based solely on their potential to discharge pollutants to U.S. waters.

Costner v. URS Consultants, Inc.

The court affirms in part and reverses in part a district court decision holding that environmental groups could bring False Claims Act (FCA) claims against contractors at a Superfund site in Arkansas. In a qui tam action brought on behalf of the United States, environmental groups allege that the c...

Gordon v. Texas

The court holds that the political question doctrine does not bar a federal court from resolving landowners' suits alleging that a state-managed fish pass significantly contributed to beach erosion on their property. The court first holds that the landowners' claims for injunctive relief and damages...

Bouchard Transp. Co. v. Updegraff

The court holds that a district court erred in ruling that Florida is entitled to Eleventh Amendment immunity in a limitation of liability proceeding, but it correctly dismissed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) and Florida Pollution Discharge Prevention Act claims brought against the owners of th...

Automated Salvage Transp., Inc. v. Wheelabrator Envtl. Sys., Inc.

The court holds that a settlement agreement between a state solid waste authority and a private waste disposal company does not violate the Sherman Act or the federal Commerce Clause. The agreement requires both the state authority and the company to respect one another's municipal contracts by reje...

Bayou Liberty Ass'n v. Corps of Eng'rs

The court holds that an environmental group is not entitled to a preliminary injunction suspending a proposed retail development's construction permit and ordering the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) addressing the development's impact on flooding. The...

Bragg v. Robertson

The court upholds as reasonable and fair a settlement agreement in a citizen suit challenging the federal government's failure to perform Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) duties concerning mountaintop mining in West Virginia. The agreement purported to settle environmental groups' claims ...

Driscoll v. Adams

The court holds a landowner liable under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) for discharging polluted stormwater without a permit into a stream on his property that flows into ponds on his neighbors' property. The discharges occurred when the landowner was harvesting timber and developin...

Friends of the Creek v. Jackson County

The court upholds the decision of a land use board that remanded a county's decision to allow a city-run wastewater treatment plant to operate on land zoned for exclusive farm use (EFU). The county approved the use as one that is permitted outright on land zoned for EFU. The court first holds that c...

Bremerton, City of v. Sesko

The court holds that property owners operated two illegal junkyards in violation of a city's zoning laws and that such operation constituted a nuisance. The city planning commission determined that the properties were nuisances, and the commission's decision to uphold the city's cease and desist ord...