A district court held that the Bureau of Indian Affairs' (BIA's) supplemental environmental assessment (EA) and revised finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for a proposed casino on Native American land held in trust by the United States complied with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)...

A California appellate court affirmed a lower court judgment in a condemnation action awarding a recreational vehicle (RV) park compensation for property taken by eminent domain, additional property taken by inverse condemnation, a temporary construction easement, a drainage easement, and severance ...

The Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court discovery ruling ordering a railroad company to produce documents in an underlying action in which landowners allege that the railway intentionally dumped toxic materials on their property. The railroad company failed to produce a privilege log as to the contes...

A California appellate court held that a county was required to prepare an environmental impact report (EIR) under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) prior to adopting an ordinance that restricts the application of sewage sludge on land located within its jurisdiction. CEQA requires the...

The California Supreme Court held that when a regional water board issues a permit to a wastewater treatment facility, it may not consider economic factors to justify imposing pollutant restrictions that are less stringent than the applicable federal standards, but it may take into account economic ...

The Fifth Circuit, in a class action suit, reversed in part, vacated in part, and remanded for further proceedings a lower court decision dismissing landowners' Fifth Amendment takings claims arising from the conversion of a railroad right-of-way to a recreational trail traversing their land. The la...

A California appellate court reversed a trial court's award of costs to a company that was delegated the task of preparing the administrative record in a planning association's California Environmental Quality Act claim against a city. The city's delegation of this task to the company without the as...

The Texas Supreme Court held that a utility company knowingly violated the Texas Water Code by charging its customers unauthorized fees. There is legally sufficient evidence in the record to support the trial court's finding that the utility company knew it was charging fees that were not approved o...

A California appellate court upheld two irrigation districts' decisions to assign water rights to a city. The districts did not improperly segment environmental review of the two assignment approvals. The assignments involved separate water rights, they transfer different amounts of water, and they ...

The Fifth Circuit vacated the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC's) decision that two natural gas pipelines perform a "transportation" function rather than a "gathering" function, thereby subjecting them to FERC jurisdiction's under the Natural Gas Act. Natural gas flows from gathering pip...