The Fifth Circuit reversed a lower court decision dismissing Mississippi residents' class action lawsuit against several energy, fossil fuel, and chemical companies for their alleged contribution to climate change. The residents argued that the companies intentionally and unreasonably used their pro...
The Sixth Circuit held that a group of residents lacked standing to challenge the TVA's implementation of a land management plan for a nearby reservoir under NEPA and the Tennessee Valley Authority Act. The residents failed to connect the procedural harm alleged in their complaint—the creation of ...
A court holds that a construction company and an individual lacked standing to challenge a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' permit allowing a developer to fill waters of the United States in connection with the construction of a mixed-use redevelopment project within the New Jersey Meadowlands in East ...
The court dismisses a petition for review challenging a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule implementing critical use exemptions for methyl bromide, a pesticide with significant ozone-depleting potential. The petitioner argued that EPA violated consensus decisions of the parties to the M...
The U.S. Supreme Court held that the statute of limitations governing the U.S. Court of Federal Claims requires sua sponte consideration of the timeliness of a lawsuit filed in that court, despite the government's waiver of the issue. The case involved a company's claims that various federal activit...
The First Circuit affirmed a lower court order permanently enjoining several members and officials of the Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board from imposing a $76 million fine on an oil company in connection with leaking underground storage tanks. The lower court was not required to abstain from ...
The D.C. Circuit vacated a lower court judgment enjoining the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) from authorizing the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to lethally take gray wolves for depredation control. Since the lower court issued its decision, the DOI removed the gray wolf population...
The Court holds that abuse of discretion is the proper standard by which to review a district court's decision to admit or exclude scientific evidence. The Court first holds that the court of appeals applied an overly stringent review of the exclusion of the plaintiff's experts' testimony, thereby f...
The Court holds that the Fifth Circuit lacked jurisdiction over a suit to set aside a 1982 settlement agreement that quieted title to lands on Horn Island, Mississippi, in U.S. favor. After concluding that the Quiet Title Act conferred jurisdiction, the Fifth Circuit, relying on a 1781 Spanish land ...
When the 103d Congress convened on January 5, 1993, many observers believed that it would make up for the dismal environmental record of its predecessor. The 102d Congress had tried and failed to reauthorize the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Its attempt to elevate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to a cabinet-level department had been blocked in the House of Representatives, and its attempt to reform the General Mining Law of 1872 had been blocked in both houses.