The Tenth Circuit upheld the constitutionality of Colorado's Clean Indoor Air Act. The Act bans smoking in indoor areas, but it expressly exempts from this general prohibition "airport smoking concessions" such as airport restaurants and bars. A coalition of tavern and bar owners filed suit challeng...

A California appellate court upheld the California Coastal Commission's denial of a coastal development permit to build a home. The commission determined that the property contains an "environmentally sensitive habitat area" that had not been designated in the Los Angeles County land use plan and th...

A California appellate court reversed the denial of a petition challenging a city's approval of an application to demolish a building to make way for a larger parking lot. The city concluded that the building was not an historic resource and that the project was exempt from the California Environmen...

A California appellate court held that a trial court improperly denied a group's motion to preliminarily enjoin a school district from demolishing 49 housing units to make way for a new school under the power of eminent domain. The group argued that the environmental impact report for the project vi...

The Ninth Circuit upheld an injunction enjoining the California Air Resources Board from enforcing state regulations that limit emissions from the auxiliary diesel engines of ocean-going vessels within 24 miles of California's coast. Clean Air Act (CAA) §209(e)(2)(A) requires California to obta...

A Louisiana appellate court affirmed in part a lower court decision in favor of residents who brought a class action suit against New Orleans for converting a municipal landfill into a residential area in the Ninth Ward. The city was negligent in its actions and inactions that resulted in the conver...

A California appellate court affirmed a lower court judgment ordering a city to prepare an environmental impact report for a 120-unit senior housing facility, a 6,500 square-foot community senior center, and a four-acre public park. There is substantial evidence that the project's increase in popula...

A California appellate court affirmed a lower court decision denying a property owner's petition challenging changes to a city's zoning rules. The city's general land use plan initially called for future annexation of certain property owned by the plaintiff. In 2004, the city council adopted a new p...

An Illinois appellate court affirmed a lower court decision that an excavation and demolition company violated the Illinois Environmental Protection Act when it disposed of whole trees in a quarry. In a previous case, the court found that leaves are not "of the same nature as garbage or sludge which...

A California appellate court affirmed a lower court decision upholding amendments to the Water Quality Control Plan for the Sacramento and San Joaquin River basin. Defendants presented sufficient evidence to demonstrate that Deer Creek does not support a viable population of rainbow trout and that t...