The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court decision denying Native American tribes' motion to preliminarily enjoin BLM's approval of a large gold mining project on Mt. Tenabo, Nevada, which has religious significance for the tribes. The tribes failed to satisfy their burde...

A district court held that residents may go forward with their trespass claims against a liquor distillery that operates a coal-fired production facility near their homes, but dismissed their nuisance and negligence claims. The residents seek injunctive and monetary relief based on the presence of p...

A California appellate court reversed in part and affirmed in part a lower court decision denying a citizen group's petition to set aside an amendment to a county's general land use plan that altered the definition of "net acreage." Substantial evidence supports a finding that the amendment could ha...

The Third Circuit affirmed a lower court decision denying a mining company's motion to expand a preliminary injunction and enjoin asbestos claims against the state of Montana arising from the company's mining operations. The company filed for Chapter 11 under the Bankruptcy Code in 2001. The same da...

The California Supreme Court held that a county's decision not to renew a conditional use permit for a private airport is not a "project" subject to environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Declining to renew the conditional use permit was not a public project unde...

A California appellate court affirmed the California Coastal Commission's denial of an individual's application for a coastal development permit for a residential and commercial project. The project, approved by the city, was located in an area zoned for commercial visitor-serving uses. Despite the ...

A California appellate court upheld an individual's conviction for the unlawful disposal of hazardous waste but reversed his sentence. There was sufficient evidence to support his conviction and the trial court did not abuse its discretion in ordering him to pay the local hazardous materials managem...

A district court denied EPA's and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' motion to transfer to Arizona a lawsuit brought by housing and construction associations challenging the agencies' designation of two reaches of the Santa Cruz River in Arizona as "traditional navigable waters" under the CWA. Althou...

A district court denied the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' motion to dismiss an environmental group's FOIA action seeking records pertaining to permits for development on two islands in the in the Magothy River, a tributary of the Chesapeake River. The Corps argued that it properly withheld the recor...

A California appellate court upheld the dismissal of developers' petition to set aside design guidelines for a development project in North Hollywood. The design guidelines are not a zoning ordinance and, therefore, need not comply with the procedural and individualized notice requirements of the st...