A Minnesota appellate court upheld a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency rule governing phosphorus effluent discharges into state waters. A coalition of cities argued that because the rule provides that a discharger "may" rather than "shall" qualify for an exemption if it demonstrates that it can mee...

The Federal Circuit reversed a lower court's dismissal of a property owner's claim for just compensation after the FWS required mitigation in connection with its sale of property to the U.S. Navy. A property owner sought to sell some of its land to the U.S. Navy. But because the FWS deemed the site ...

A district court held that the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection may intervene in environmental groups' lawsuit challenging the DOI Secretary's approval of two amendments to the state's surface mining regulatory program. Although the goal of the state agency appears to be identica...

The Ninth Circuit denied a petition for review of a FERC decision denying environmental groups' motion to intervene in a license renewal proceeding for a dam. Although the groups' motion to intervene was late, they argued that FERC abused its discretion in denying their late intervention motion sinc...

The Ninth Circuit dismissed as unripe property owner's CERCLA and RCRA claims against the former owners for the costs of removing lead and other pollutants deposited on the land, which had been used as a shooting range. The owner's asserted cleanup costs are speculative and were calculated without r...

A Minnesota appellate court upheld a state permit regulating ballast-water discharges into Minnesota waters of Lake Superior. An environmental group argued that the agency erred in its interpretation and application of the state's nondegradation rule, failed to conduct an appropriate nondegradation ...

A district court enjoined a timber harvest project in Lassen National Forest until the Forest Service conducts an adequate and sufficient review under NEPA. Environmental groups brought a lawsuit challenging the Forest Service's EA for the project. The group argued that the Service failed to ensure ...

The Eighth Circuit affirmed a lower court order holding that a company substantially complied with a state's remediation plan for cleaning up PCB contamination at a hazardous waste site. The company's predecessor-in-interest operated an electrical transformer repair facility on the subject property,...

The Fourth Circuit reversed a lower court decision rejecting the U.S. Coast Guard's interpretation of its own regulations concerning the installation of double hulls on oil tankers overseas. Under U.S. law, a vessel becomes ineligible to participate in the coastwise trade if significant work is perf...

The Ninth Circuit reversed and remanded a lower court decision dismissing a neighborhood association's APA action seeking to compel EPA's Office of Civil Rights (OCR) to act on their complaint that a city failed to properly use EPA funds to address lingering environmental problems in low-income and ...