The court held unripe a petition challenging the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) decision to grant a license permitting the construction and operation of a spent nuclear fuel storage facility on land belonging to the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians in Utah. After the NRC approved the li...

The Federal Claims Court held that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) must pay two nuclear utilities over $77 million in damages for failing to commence performance of its contract to accept, transport, and dispose of the utilities' spent nuclear fuel. Under the contract, DOE was to start accepting...

A Michigan appellate court upheld a lower court's imposition of over $2.5 million in penalties against the owners of a gas station for failing to comply with certain orders and statutory requirements in remediating contamination due to leaking underground storage tanks at the site. The trial court a...

The Ninth Circuit held that federal law preempts Washington State's Cleanup Priority Act, a statute enacted through the passage of a voter initiative. The Act was intended to "prevent the addition of new radioactive and hazardous waste" at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation site until cleanup of existi...

The court grants in part and denies in part a Fed. R. Civ. P. rule 12(f) motion to strike certain affirmative defenses of a third-party defendant brought by a responsible party who was held liable under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The court fir...

The court holds that, as applied to industrial truck manufacturers and distributors, the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA's) hazard communication standard (HCS) preempt enforcement of the occupational warning requirements unde...

The court holds that a state's solid waste disposal program that requires the identification of additional capacity for out-of-state waste before a plan is approved does not violate the U.S. Commerce Clause. The court first holds that the program does not facially discriminate against interstate com...

The Court holds that a landfill constructed on land ceded from the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota by an 1894 Act that diminished the boundaries of the reservation is not subject to federal environmental regulation. The Court first holds that the 1894 Act—a negotiated agreement providing...

The court holds that a Wisconsin farming family's state-law claims against a pesticide manufacturer are preempted by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). The family filed negligence and fraudulent representation claims based on the manufacturer's alleged off-label stateme...

The court holds that a U.S. Forest Service proposal for a logging project and road extension in the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), but not the National Forest Management Act (NFMA). The court first holds that neither the district cour...