The Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court decision to find a possible equal protection violation when a state water quality control board's overzealous regulation of a ski resort's water discharges may have been motivated by personal animus, but affirmed the decision on all remaining claims. When the...
The Third Circuit reversed a lower court decision and granted declaratory judgment for a waste management company stating that the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act does not prohibit the building of a landfill because the company began construction prior to the effective date of the...
The Eighth Circuit upheld the dismissal of a landowner's lawsuit challenging the USDA's financing of a sewage treatment plant for lack of standing. The landowner argued that in the event of a 100-year flood, the treatment plant increases the risk of flooding on his land. The landowner, however, fail...
The Seventh Circuit held that an insurer has no duty to defend or indemnify a local housing authority with respect to an underlying class action lawsuit in which approximately 10,000 current or former residents claimed that they had been exposed to and harmed by environmental contaminants while livi...
The D.C. Circuit granted several municipalities' petition to review an FAA order allowing Chicago to impose a $4.50 passenger facility fee to fund an EIS being prepared in connection with the modernization of O'Hare International Airport. Under the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, the FAA must find, am...
The First Circuit dismissed for lack of jurisdiction Rhode Island's interlocutory appeal of an EPA Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) decision denying the state's motion to intervene in an NPDES permit proceeding. As a matter of first impression in the circuit, the court held that the collateral orde...
A district court granted environmental groups' motion to preliminarily enjoin the Secretary of Commerce from implementing his finding under the International Dolphin Conservation Program Act that the intentional deployment on, or encirclement of, dolphins with purse seine nets is not having a signif...
The Federal Circuit reversed a lower court decision that a commercial fishing company suffered a taking when its fishing permits were revoked under 1997 and 1998 Appropriations Acts. The Appropriations Acts cancelled the company's existing permits and authorization letter and prevented any further p...
A California appellate court upheld the dismissal of an association's petition challenging the adequacy of a county's environmental impact report (EIR) prepared in connection with a proposed amendment to the local coastal plan (LCP) concerning greenhouse development. After the petition was filed, th...
The Third Circuit upheld a district court decision that a state wildlife and game commission's refusal to exempt a Native American, who owns black bears for religious purposes, from a permit fee violates the First Amendment's Free Exercise Clause. The permitting scheme is subject to strict scrutiny....