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Defenders of Wildlife v. Chertoff

A district court dismissed environmental groups' claim that the Department of Homeland Security's waiver of various federal environmental laws with respect to the construction of a fence along the U.S.-Mexican border under the REAL ID Act of 2005 was unconstitutional. The court lacks the power to in...

Goodstein v. Continental Cas. Co.

The Ninth Circuit held that an insurance company had no duty to pay for the difference between the sale price received for polluted properties and the fair market value of the land had it been cleaned up prior to sale. The properties at issue were owned by two dissolved partnerships. A court-appoint...

Feldman v. Bomar

The Ninth Circuit dismissed individuals' appeal from a judgment for defendants in a case claiming that they violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the California Environmental Quality Act in adopting a National Park Service (NPS) program to restore and protect Santa Cruz Island by, in pa...

Fort Edward v. United States

The Second Circuit upheld a consent decree between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a private company involving the removal of polychlorinated biphenyls from the Hudson River. A town where some of the work will be performed intervened in the case arguing that provisions of the cons...

North Slope Borough v. Minerals Management Serv.

A district court dismissed a lawsuit filed by Alaska native groups seeking to rescind certain oil and gas leases issued by the Minerals Management Service (MMS) in 2007. The MMS prepared an EIS in 2003 for lease sales that were to occur in 2003, 2005, and 2007. Because of the time lag between the 20...

National Mining Ass'n v. Kempthorne

The D.C. Circuit upheld the U.S. Department of the Interior's (DOI's) interpretation of "valid existing rights" in a 1999 rule to foreclose surface mining operations in sensitive areas. A mining association argued that Congress inserted "valid existing rights" in the Surface Mining Control and Recla...

Schuette & Koerting, Inc. v. Regional Water Quality Control Bd.

A California appellate court reversed a lower court decision denying a petition to set aside a regional water board order requiring a company to perform a human health risk assessment in connection with its cleanup of a large toxic groundwater plume of industrial wastes that leaked into the ground a...

Communities for a Better Env't v. South Coast Air Quality Management Dist.

A California appellate court held that a regional air quality district abused its discretion under the California Environmental Quality Act in issuing a negative declaration for an ultra low sulfur diesel fuel manufacturing project. The environmental group challenging the project offered substantial...

Public Citizen, Inc. v. National Highway Safety Admin.

The D.C. Circuit held that a consumer group lacks standing to challenge a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) safety standard requiring a warning system for underinflated tires. The group alleged that some of its members will suffer car accidents in the future that otherwise would...

Nascimento v. Preferred Mut. Ins. Co.

The First Circuit held that under Massachusetts law, an insurance company has no contractual obligation to defend or indemnify an individual in an environmental liability suit brought against him by his neighbors for soil contamination stemming from a leaking underground storage tank (UST). The tota...