The Sixth Circuit held that a lower court erred in acquitting defendants convicted for violating the Ports and Waterways Safety Act in connection with a benzene leak from a barge in the Mississippi River. The defendants were convicted for failing to immediately notify the U.S. Coast Guard of a hazar...

A district court granted the Massachusetts Department of Transportation's (MassDOT's) motion for judgment in a case involving its violation of municipal separate storm sewer system NPDES permits in the Boston area and denied an environmental group's motion for additional injunctive relief. Once a co...

A district court dismissed a fraud claim brought by a car wash operator against the seller of the property—an oil company—for requiring the operator to sign a document stating that he intended to use USTs on the property even though he had no such intent. The USTs were later found to be leaking ...

The Eleventh Circuit vacated a lower court decision remanding a permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers back to the agency and enjoining a mining company from conducting operations approved in that permit. The lower court concluded the permit's issuance did not comply with the requirements...

The Federal Circuit upheld the dismissal of a Native American tribe's Tucker Act claim against the United States for an alleged breach of fiduciary duty relating to water rights in the Gila River. A consent decree establishing water rights among the tribe and landowners along the river was ente...

The D.C. Circuit denied a Native American tribe's petition challenging FERC's decision declining to impose conditions on a utility's annual licenses for a hydroelectric plant in order to preserve the Klamath River's trout fishery. Contrary to the tribe’s argument, FERC quite plainly articulated an...

The U.S. Supreme Court held that a Native American tribe's suit against federal officials in district court seeking equitable relief for their alleged breach of fiduciary duty precludes jurisdiction over the tribe's suit against the United States for monetary damages in the Court of Federal Cla...

Massachusetts' highest court vacated a nuclear power company's action seeking a judgment declaring that state regulations governing cooling water intake structures (CWIS) exceeded the state environmental agency's authority under the commonwealth's Clean Waters Act. A lower court ruled that the ...

The Michigan Supreme Court vacated its previous decision at 41 ELR 20056 in which it held that a company's plan to discharge contaminated water from an environmental cleanup site in the Manistee River watershed into a previously unpolluted site in the AuSable River watershed was manife...

A California appellate court reversed a lower court decision dismissing petitioners' action to compel the state health department to prepare and submit a safe drinking water plan to the state legislature as required by state law. The department argued before the trial court that the statutory m...