The Ninth Circuit held that the BLM violated NEPA when it approved a mining company's amendment to a plan of operations for an existing mineral exploration project in Nevada. The BLM took a hard look at the direct impacts of the amendment and its discussion of reasonable alternatives was proper, but...

A California appellate court held that a subdivision development project is not exempt from environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The county deemed the project exempt from CEQA under the categorical exemption for in-fill development. But the proposed subdivision...

The U.S. Supreme Court held that a district court abused its discretion in enjoining the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) from effecting a partial deregulation of Roundup Ready Alfalfa (RRA), a variety of alfalfa genetically engineered to tolerate the herbicide Roundup, and in proh...

The Tenth Circuit rejected environmental and citizens' groups challenge to a 2003 BLM resource management plan amendment allowing natural gas development in Wyoming's Powder River Basin. The groups alleged that BLM violated NEPA when it refused to study in detail their proposal to phase development ...

An Indiana appellate court held that the economic loss doctrine does not preclude a property owner from pursuing negligence claims against a company that previously operated a manufacturing site on adjacent property. If a plaintiff is not seeking damages involving the benefit of the bargain or other...

The Florida Supreme Court held that commercial fishermen can recover for economic losses caused by the negligent release of pollutants even if they do not own any property damaged by that pollution. The case arose after waste from a fertilizer company entered a pond, resulting in a loss of underwate...

A district court granted an offshore service company's motion to enjoin the federal government's six-month general moratorium on deepwater drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico. The company established a likelihood of successfully showing that the federal government acted arbitrarily and capricious...

A California appellate court held that a siting agreement between a county and the state corrections department that identified potential locations for a state prison reentry facility is not subject to environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The agreement was not ...

The Wisconsin Supreme Court held that an insurance company must defend a manufacturing company in an underlying contamination case even though the company's policy was a indemnity-only excess umbrella policy. Based on the language of the policy, the insurer had a duty to defend. Although the excess ...

The Fifth Circuit refused to reinstate the six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. In June, a district court granted an offshore service company's motion to enjoin the moratorium. The DOI sought a stay of that injunction, but it failed to demonstrate a likelihood of irrepar...