The court holds that the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) §1272(e) prohibits subsidence and underground mining activities that might lead to subsidence in parks and protected areas. The Secretary of the Interior interpreted §1272(e), which prohibits surface coal mining operations...

The court holds that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) use of the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) to measure compliance with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) treatment standard for spent potliner is arbitrary and capricious. Spent potliner is a byp...

The court dismisses strict liability, nuisance, trespass, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) claims filed against the former sublessee of contaminated property where an underground storage tank (UST) leaked. The former sublessee operated a gasoline station at the site, which was next ...

The court upholds Department of the Interior (DOI) regulations allowing state agencies that administer federally approved programs under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) to terminate their jurisdiction over reclaimed sites of completed surface mining and reclamation operations ...

The court holds that a consent decree between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and an oil company relating to contamination at the company's petroleum refinery does not bar an administrative action alleging that the company violated hazardous waste regulations requiring attachment of n...

The court reverses a lower court decision finding the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) liable for the permanent taking of a mining company's leasehold property. The mining company applied to the OSM for a permit and was told that its application was administratively incompl...

The court holds that environmental groups' claim that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) violated the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) by promulgating regulations allowing electric, telephone, and natural gas utilities in New York to accumulate hazardous waste at utility-own...

The court largely upholds the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) determination that Subtitle C of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) does not apply to recycled materials used to make zinc fertilizers, or to the resulting fertilizers themselves, so long as they meet certain...

The Ninth Circuit holds that a district court erred in holding that residents living across from a county dump lacked standing to bring Clean Air Act (CAA) claims based on ozone degradation against a county health department and in granting the county summary judgment on the residents' Resource Cons...

The D.C. Circuit held that on remand EPA must explain how the risk assessments it used in exempting certain recycled zinc fertilizer products from regulation under RCRA compare with the risk threshold estimates in a private study. Petitioners were limited to challenging EPA's claim that its study an...