A California court voided an agreement between California and the four major Southern California water agencies (Metropolitan Water District, Imperial Irrigation District, Coachella Valley Water District, and San Diego County Water Authority) concerning the allocation of water from the Colorado Rive...

A district court held that an insurance company has a duty to defend a shooting range operator in an underlying CWA, RCRA, and nuisance lawsuit concerning the discharge of lead shot into the environment. The duty to defend arises when there is a possibility that a claim may be covered by the insuran...

The D.C. Circuit ordered FERC to reconsider its reporting rules for interstate natural gas pipelines. During the public comment period, petitioners—a national trade association of gas utility companies—requested additional and more detailed reporting requirements for shipper-supplied gas for pip...

The Supreme Court of Vermont reversed and remanded a lower court’s decision that granted a corporate officer’s motion to dismiss the complaint of a property owner for trespass and nuisance. Contrary to the lower court's decision, the complaint alleged facts sufficient to find liability. ...

A California appellate court affirmed a lower court’s decision to vacate an ordinance issued by the City of Manhattan Beach, which prohibited certain retailers from distributing plastic bags to customers at the point of sale, until the city prepared an environmental impact report pursuant to the C...

The Nevada Supreme Court reversed and remanded a lower court decision that held that the Nevada State Engineer did not violate his statutory duty by failing to rule on the water appropriation applications of a regional water authority within one year of the protest period closing. At the time the ap...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court’s decision to dismiss environmental groups’ action against the National Park Service (NPS) on the grounds that NPS did not act arbitrarily and capriciously under the APA by adopting a management plan that permitted the continued use of motorized raft and ...

A district court granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment to dismiss personal injury plaintiffs' claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress relating to the improper disposal of hazardous waste. Relying on prior caselaw, the court held that a plaintiff asserting a claim for inten...

A district court denied a property seller’s motion for judgment on the pleadings, finding that the sale agreement between the seller and buyer did not bar statutory claims asserted by the buyer under CERCLA, RCRA, and the Pennsylvania Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act. The court held that, although ...

The Idaho Supreme Court affirmed a lower court decision that a county ordinance, which included provisions regulating water quality at confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), was valid. Plaintiffs, associations of cattlemen and dairymen, argued that the ordinance was invalid because (1) it was i...