A Michigan appellate court reversed the dismissal of a property owner's trespass claim against a prior owner of the site, but upheld the dismissal of the remaining tort and state-law claims stemming from the discovery of USTs on the site. The owner filed suit against two prior owners, arguing that b...

A district court dismissed an insurance company's CERCLA §§107 and 112 claim for response costs incurred by one of its policy holders seeking to redevelop the site of a former aerospace manufacturing facility. Because insurance payments made pursuant to a contractual obligation are not "respo...

A California court ordered the California Air Resources Board to set aside its "functional equivalent document" and scoping plan to reduce greenhouse gases as it relates to cap and trade. The court ruled that the board inadequately described and analyzed project alternatives in violation of the...

A district court approved two consent decrees settling Colorado's claims for natural resource damages against two waste companies and the city and county of Denver in connection with the Lowry Landfill Superfund site. The settlement, which requires the performing parties to each pay $500,000...

A district court, on motions for reconsideration and for leave to amend counterclaims, held that a gas company may seek recovery costs under CERCLA and the Michigan Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act against the plaintiffs in the case. The plaintiffs seek recovery of costs they ...

A Washington appellate court held that the former owners of contaminated property may be held liable under the state's Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA). Fifteen years after the former owner sold the property to a port, the port notified the former owners that they were potentially liable part...

A district court held that the owners of contaminated property may be held liable under RCRA for obstructing the former owner's ability to clean up the site. After purchasing the property from a power company, the owners filed suit against the power company under RCRA. The company then filed...

A California appellate court held that a city's approval of a "term sheet" setting forth the basic plans for building a stadium for the San Francisco 49ers does not constitute a project or project approval under the California Environmental Quality Act. The current lessee of the site filed a pe...

A district court denied a property owner's motion to add RCRA claims to its CERCLA and state law action against a dry cleaner for groundwater contamination. The property owner failed to comply with RCRA's notice requirements. The boilerplate and conclusory RCRA notices provided by the owner fai...

The U.S. Supreme Court held that Wyoming did not violate the Yellowstone River Compact by allowing its pre-1950 water appropriators to increase their net water consumption by improving the efficiency of their irrigation systems. The compact protects beneficial use water rights in existence prio...