The court holds that a state may only recover from responsible private parties the nonarbitrary portions of response costs it incurred cleaning up lead-contaminated soils under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the Minnesota Environmental Response...

The court holds that the federal government's reallocation of a Native American tribe's excess water supply to a second tribe did not constitute a taking of irrigation districts' water rights. After the districts entered into subcontracts with the state and federal government for residual water righ...

The court holds that local school districts, municipalities, and timber companies may intervene as of right in litigation brought by plaintiff-environmentalists to restrict logging activities in the Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania. The court first notes that the parties do not dispute the ...

The court holds that a husband and wife lacked standing under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA), and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) to sue the developers of a benzene contaminated off...

The court holds that the owner of a contaminated landfill may only recover response costs from alleged generators of hazardous waste through a contribution action under Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) §113. The court first holds that the owner of the l...

The court holds that a landowner that is a potentially responsible party (PRP) under Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) §107(a) cannot maintain a §107(a) action against another PRP, but can seek contribution from that PRP under CERCLA §113(f). The lando...

The court upholds a U.S. Forest Service decision to allow a timber sale in the Malheur National Forest in Oregon. The Forest Service's decision allows the harvest of approximately 10.7-million-board feet of timber from approximately 3,560 acres, which includes 92 acres of conifers encroaching on asp...

The court holds that citizens have standing to seek civil monetary penalties against a private shipyard for past and present Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) violations. The court denies the shipyard's motion in limine seeking preclusion of civil penalties. Two recent cases, Steel Co. v. ...

The court upholds the U.S. Forest Service's denial of a special use permit to land a private helicopter on a parcel of the Sawtooth National Forest that abuts the permit applicant's vacation property in rural Idaho. The court first holds that the Forest Service reasonably interpreted 36 C.F.R. §251...

A judge dissents from the Ninth Circuit's decision not to rehear a case addressing the Oil Pollution Act's (OPA's) preemptive effect on Washington State's oil spill prevention regulations. The initial Ninth Circuit opinion held that the OPA did not preempt the majority of the state's oil spill regul...