A California appellate court, in an unpublished opinion, upheld San Francisco's ban on the use of plastic "checkout bags" by retail establishments in the city and county. A group of plastic bag manufacturers and distributors filed suit, arguing that the ban violates the California Environmental Qual...

Pennsylvania's highest court struck down Act 13, which pertains to oil and gas operations in the Marcellus Shale, as unconstitutional. The Act repealed Pennsylvania’s Oil and Gas Act and replaced it with a codified statutory framework regulating oil and gas operations in the Commonwealth. Among ot...

The Alabama Supreme Court held that a property owner may go forward with its inverse condemnation claim against the director of the state transportation agency for allowing contaminated water to be pumped onto the owner's land. Although the agency is immune from suit, valid inverse condemnation acti...

A New Jersey appellate court, in an unpublished opinion, affirmed a trial court decision dismissing without prejudice property owners' complaint alleging their property had been contaminated by chemicals discharged from a neighboring dry cleaning business. The New Jersey Environmental Rights Act all...

A California appellate court, in an unpublished opinion, dismissed residents' lawsuit challenging a city's decision not to prepare an environmental impact report (EIR) under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for a proposed mixed-use commercial and residential project. The residents mai...

A California court upheld the California Air Resource Board's (CARB's) authority to sell greenhouse gas allowances at auction under the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, also known as Assembly Bill 32 (AB 32). As in its tentative decision issued last August, the court ruled that the a...

A district court ordered EPA to submit within 60 days a schedule on when it proposes to complete its review and revision of its RCRA Subtitle D coal ash regulations. In 1980, Congress amended RCRA by adding §3001(b)(3)(A)(ii), known as the Bevill Amendment, to prohibit EPA from regulating mining an...

A California appellate court reversed a lower court decision dismissing a clean energy group's petition challenging a city's certification and approval of an environmental impact report (EIR) prepared for a proposed update to the city's general plan. The group argued that the approved final EIR fell...

A California appellate court held that California's Commission on State Mandates erred in ruling that certain requirements set forth in a municipal stormwater sewer permit for Los Angeles County constituted unfunded state mandates subject to reimbursement under the state constitution. Although the p...

A district court held that a property owner may go forward with its CERCLA claims against several retail stores in connection with contamination stemming from the property, but dismissed the owner's RCRA claims. The owner entered into a consent order with Oklahoma's environmental agency that set for...