A California appellate court reversed a lower court's grant of summary judgment in favor of a county that was sued by a school district for environmental problems and remediation costs incurred on district property due to ongoing effects of an inactive county landfill. The lower court concluded that...

A district court dismissed a county's lawsuit against a railroad company for allowing its locomotive engines to idle in violation of state air pollution law. This case involves railcars, the fumes they emit, and the tracks they use. Accordingly, its falls under the umbrella of federal regulatory aut...

The Colorado Supreme Court held that the state Mined Land Reclamation Act impliedly preempts a county's ban on the use of toxic or acidic chemicals, such as cyanide, for mineral processing in vat or heap leach operations for all zoning districts in the county. The county enacted the ordinance to pro...

A California appellate court reversed a lower court's summary judgment that a county's approval of a congregate care construction project did not violate the California Environmental Quality Act or its general land use plan. The county enacted a program that requires developers in a defined geograph...

A California appellate court affirmed a lower court decision denying a water company's petition challenging a water district's use of a statutory rate-setting exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act to raise groundwater-charge rates for fiscal year 2006-2007. Although the district's ...

A California appellate court held that a water district violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) when it approved an agreement concerning the operation of a landfill and recycling center. The water district argued that its approval and execution of the agreement did not constitute ap...

The Federal Circuit denied the U.S. government's petition to rehear a case requiring the federal government to pay a water district for diverting water to protect endangered steelhead trout. A concurring judge explained that this case, as it was presented on appeal, is one in which a physical, not a...

The Supreme Court of California affirmed in part and reversed in part an appellate court decision reversing a trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of excess insurance companies in the state's action to obtain coverage for property damage liability imposed in a federal lawsuit concerning ...

The Ninth Circuit held that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) violated the Washington state Hazardous Waste Management Act (HWMA) in its management of mixed radioactive and hazardous waste, commonly known as TRUM, at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. DOE argued that it no longer has an obligation u...

A California appellate court affirmed a trial court's ruling in favor of tuna companies in a state lawsuit seeking to require the companies to warn pregnant women and women of childbearing age that they are exposed to methylmercury when they consume canned tuna. Proposition 65, the Safe Drinking Wat...