The court holds that the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) applies to a mining claim contest proceeding concerning the validity of miners' mining and milling site claims in the Payette National Forest. The court first holds that the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. §554, governs the mining c...

The court dismisses strict liability, nuisance, trespass, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) claims filed against the former sublessee of contaminated property where an underground storage tank (UST) leaked. The former sublessee operated a gasoline station at the site, which was next ...

The court remands a municipality's request for litigation costs relating to its successful challenge of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Clean Air Act (CAA) rule establishing new source performance standards for the combustion of municipal solid waste. The court first holds that the muni...

The First Circuit upheld a lower court decision dismissing a biomedical waste disposal company's §1983 claims against the Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board for rejecting its proposed plans for dealing with accumulated waste. The complaint states no plausible claim against any identifiable def...

A district court held that a bank may go forward with its CERCLA and negligence claims against engineering and remediation companies that prepared and implemented an environmental remediation plan for property in which the bank holds an interest, but it dismissed the bank's strict liability and negl...

A district court held that the owner of a restaurant may seek prospective damages, and possibly punitive damages, against an oil company for damages stemming from a leaking UST at a neighboring gas station. To obtain prospective damages for nuisance or trespass, the owner must prove that the contami...

A district court held that environmental groups and water associations may intervene in a lawsuit challenging EPA's TMDL for the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit argued that the TMDL should be vacated because EPA lacked authority under the CWA to issue the TMDL, the ...

The court affirms the conviction of nonmembers of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe for fishing illegally on an Indian reservation, upholding the constitutionality of a statute requiring nonmembers of the tribe to pay a special license fee set by the tribe.
In 1969, the Leech Lake Band of Chippewa India...

The court holds that the permit administrator and South Carolina Coastal Council's denial of an application to build a new bulkhead on beachfront property in violation of the state Coastal Zone Management Act does not constitute an unconstitutional taking of the land between the existing and propose...

The court upholds a Connecticut municipality's regulation requiring owners of land partially within designated wetlands areas to obtain municipal approval before erecting structures on the land's nonwetlands portion. The court first holds that the regulation does not impermissibly expand the jurisdi...