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Defenders of Wildlife v. Jewell
A district court held that environmental groups may go forward with their ESA lawsuit challenging OSM's issuance of SMCRA permits for two surface coal mines. The groups alleged that OSM failed to adequately consider how wastewater discharges from the mines would impact the Cumberland darter and blac...
Decker Manufacturing Corp. v. Travelers Indemnity Co.
A district court held that an insurance company must defend and indemnify a manufacturing company for its costs responding to contamination at a landfill. The insurer argued that the policy's pollution exclusion clause barred coverage because the company intentionally discharged its waste into the l...
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection v. Lockheed Martin Corp.
A district court held that CERCLA §113(f)(2) does not afford the U.S. government protection from contribution claims brought by a third-party PRP in a case involving cleanup costs incurred at the Quehanna Wild Area Nuclear Site in Pennsylvania. The U.S. government entered into a settlement agreemen...
Cyprus Amax Minerals Co. v. TCI Pacific Communications, Inc.
A district court held that a corporation may be held liable under CERCLA for contamination stemming from smelting operations in the early 1900s by a subsidiary of the corporation's predecessor. Considering the totality of the circumstances, the smelting company was the alter ego of the corporation's...
Power Fuels, LLC v. Federal Mine Safety & Health Review Comm'n
The Fourth Circuit held that a Virginia facility that stores and blends coal for a nearby power plant is subject to the Mine Safety and Health Administration's (MSHA's) jurisdiction under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977. The Mine Act covers operators of a "coal or other mine," includi...
LWD PRP Group v. Alcan Corp.
The Sixth Circuit held that the three-year statute of limitations for contribution actions brought after an administrative settlement to perform a removal action begins running when the settlement becomes effective, not when the removal action is completed. In this case, the plaintiff—a group of P...
Vine Street v. Borg Warner Corp.
The Fifth Circuit held that a corporation should not be held liable as an arranger under CERCLA for costs associated with cleaning up a plume of perchloroethylene (PERC) that discharged from a dry cleaning business that operated in the 1960s and 1970s. A district court in 2006 had held the corporati...
Suction Dredge Mining Cases
A California court held that federal mining law preempts a state law that effectively bans the use of any vacuum or suction dredge mining in streams and rivers on federal lands. Under Cal. Fish & Game Code §5653, the use of any vacuum or suction dredge equipment by any person in any river strea...
Anderson v. Teck Metals, Ltd.
A district court granted in part and denied in part a motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit against a Canadian mining company for allegedly causing individuals residing near the Upper Columbia River to suffer various health diseases due to toxic and hazardous air emissions from the company's smel...