The court holds that a state zoning board failed to properly consider the historical significance of an area before granting a granite mining operation a conditional use permit, and, therefore, the permit is vacated. A Native American village challenged the board's grant of the permit. The court fir...

The court finds that a U.S. Forest Service letter enforcing a decision to close certain areas of Lolo National Forest to motorized use did not constitute final agency action subject to review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Forest Management Act. The Forest Servic...

The court holds that the equitable doctrine of laches bars a community group's Administrative Procedure Act and Clean Water Act (CWA) claims seeking to prevent the permitted filling of a wetland and, hence, to stop further development of a neighboring industrial park. After their attempt to stop the...

The court holds that summary judgment was improvidently granted in favor of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in a suit brought by property owners who claimed that the Corps' refusal to grant the owners a Clean Water Act (CWA) §404 dredge and fill permit for 50 acres of submerged lands constituted a...

The court holds that a trial court incorrectly concluded that a city ordinance regulating junkyards was a zoning ordinance subject to notice-and-hearing requirements. A junkyard owner who had been cited for several violations of the ordinance claimed that the ordinance was inapplicable because it wa...

The court affirms a district court decision holding the former owner of an abandoned refinery responsible under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) for 15 percent of all past and future response costs and damages a subsequent owner incurred and will inc...

The court holds that neither an amended Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) consent decree between a waste handler and the United States nor a previous trust agreement with other CERCLA defendants bound a waste handler to sign a new trust agreement. The dis...

The court holds that a railroad's motion to dismiss a power company's Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) cost recovery action against it for lack of subject matter jurisdiction must be denied. The court first holds that the power company's allegation as co...

The court denies a corporation's motion to reconsider a ruling that disputed issues of material fact exist as to whether the corporation's neighbor can claim an innocent landowner defense, which would allow the neighbor to pursue a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Ac...

The court holds that a lower court improperly dismissed a laundry detergent manufacturer's claim that an exclusive franchise agreement between a county and a solid waste handler violated the dormant U.S. Commerce Clause. The agreement gave the waste handler the exclusive right to collect and process...