The First Circuit denied Massachusetts' petition for review of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) order denying its request to participate directly in a re-licensing proceeding of two nuclear energy plants as a "party" before the agency issues its renewal decision. Massachusetts argued that it mu...

An Illinois appellate court reversed and remanded a preliminary injunction enjoining a farmer from constructing or operating a hog farm on his property. Completion of the hog confinement building does not constitute the construction of a "new facility" under the Illinois Livestock Management Facilit...

A California appellate court held that an environmental group's claims against a county concerning certain trails are not time barred. The group claimed that the county board approved activities with respect to the proposed trails without the requisite environmental review under the California Envir...

A California appellate court upheld the dismissal of an environmental group's petition challenging a city's water supply assessment for a large-scale industrial/business park development. The adequacy of the assessment is properly challenged as a part of a challenge to an environmental impact report...

The Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of state takings claims arising out of a state ban on open-pit mining for gold or silver by the cyanide heap leaching process. The plaintiffs, who prior to the ban had acquired leases of Montana state property for the purpose of mining gold, silver, and other t...

The Second Circuit remanded with directions to dismiss claims against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a former Agency administrator for misleading plaintiffs into believing that the air quality in lower Manhattan in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, was safe enough to permit th...

The Federal Claims court recommended that $34.3 million be awarded to former Kentucky landowners whose farms were taken during World War II (WWII) for a military training facility. When the federal government condemned the land, it paid only for the surface rights, not for the underlying mineral rig...

A Michigan appellate court affirmed a lower court judgment ordering a company to investigate and, if necessary, to clean up contamination at a former foundry operation. The company argued that the trial court erred in holding it liable for cleanup of the site to residential, rather than industrial, ...

A California appellate court held that a subdivision project that a county initially approved but for which subsequent delays caused the tentative map to expire is not a new project for purposes of environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Nothing significant about ...

The Supreme Court of Connecticut held that an individual convicted for storing and disposing of hazardous waste without a permit in violation of state law is entitled to a new trial due to improper jury instructions. The trial court improperly charged the jury as to the elements of "disposal" and "s...