A court upholds the denial of a citizen group's motion for attorney fees in its California Environmental Quality Act action against a city in connection with the approval of a retail warehouse construction project. There were no significant benefits derived by a large number or class of people as a ...

The court holds that the Director of the California Department of Conservation has standing to file a petition for a writ of mandate challenging a county's approval of reclamation plans and financial assurances for two surface mining operations. The Director's standing to pursue a writ of mandate is...

The court holds that an insurer must indemnify a lead smelting company for any remediation costs and expenses the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) incurred remediating lead pollution at the company's facility on Harbor Island, Washington. The insurer issued the company a claims-made insura...

A court denies motions to intervene and set aside a consent decree concerning the cleanup and restoration of contaminated groundwater. The motion to intervene was filed 10 years after the consent decree was entered, there has been extensive public involvement concerning the decree, and the existing ...

A court holds that a construction company and an individual lacked standing to challenge a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' permit allowing a developer to fill waters of the United States in connection with the construction of a mixed-use redevelopment project within the New Jersey Meadowlands in East ...

The court upholds a lower court's summary judgment and bench trial rulings in favor of a city that was sued by homeowners for failing to police the operation of an illegal dump near their homes. The homeowners argued that the city violated the Fair Housing Act (FHA) §3604(a) because the dump makes ...

The court holds that the state of Utah lacks authority to regulate billboard advertising displays erected by a Native American tribe on land held in trust by the federal government. Section 465 of the Indian Reorganization Act—the statute authorizing acquisition of the land—does not violate the ...

The court upholds a bankruptcy court's settlement approval over the disposition of certain rights to harvested methane gas. Under the settlement, the bankrupt party—a company that collects methane gas from landfills—was released from its obligation to finish the gas collection system and was to ...

The court dismisses a petition for review challenging a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule implementing critical use exemptions for methyl bromide, a pesticide with significant ozone-depleting potential. The petitioner argued that EPA violated consensus decisions of the parties to the M...

The court removes the New York Superfund disposal tax—Environmental Conservation Law §27-0923(2)—from its statutory financing scheme for the cleanup of inactive hazardous waste disposal sites. The courts below have already held, and the state does not contest, that the disposal tax unlawfully d...