The Fourth Circuit upheld the dismissal of a mining corporation's lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Maryland Surface Dewatering Act. The Act imposes remedial measures on a licensed miner if a well within its "zone of influence" fails due to declining ground water or if damage was caus...

A district court dismissed environmental groups' claim that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has never undertaken the study of coal mining wastes requested by Congress and, accordingly, has failed to determine whether such wastes should be regulated as "hazardous" under Subtitle C of t...

The First Circuit affirmed a lower court order permanently enjoining several members and officials of the Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board from imposing a $76 million fine on an oil company in connection with leaking underground storage tanks. The lower court was not required to abstain from ...

A California appellate court affirmed a lower court decision holding unripe a construction company's takings claim against the California Coastal Commission for denying its application of a coastal development permit. The court rejected the company's argument that there is no economically productive...

A district court dismissed claims that the workplace safety exposure levels—or threshold limit values—for silica, copper, n-propyl bromide, and diesel particulate matter are adopted by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) and enforced by the U.S. Department of La...

The D.C. Circuit vacated a lower court judgment enjoining the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) from authorizing the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to lethally take gray wolves for depredation control. Since the lower court issued its decision, the DOI removed the gray wolf population...

The California Supreme Court reversed a lower court decision finding that the programmatic environmental impact statement (EIS) and environmental impact report (EIR) for the CALFED Program—a long-term comprehensive plan designed by a consortium of 18 state and federal agencies (CALFED) to restore ...

A district court granted a motion in limine to exclude a real estate expert's testimony on the value of certain property alleged to have been contaminated with methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), a gasoline additive. The expert was going to testify that the value of plaintiffs' property in the affec...

A Texas appellate court upheld a state railroad commission order requiring a company to obtain a permit to receive and store oilfield waste consisting primarily of oil-based drill cuttings—bits of rock and soil that are byproducts of the drilling process—that it would then recycle into road base...

The court upholds the Secretary of Energy's interpretation of the term "provide for" within a provision of the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act that entitles states and regional radioactive-waste disposal compacts to a rebate of their waste disposal surcharges. Plaintiff regional co...