The court affirms in part and reverses in part a district court decision holding that certain beneficiaries to the Central Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact (the Compact) had a right to sue Nebraska for acts delaying the construction of the Compact's disposal facility and that the state...
The court holds that initiative measures generated and placed on the ballot by a public agency are not exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The city of Sierra Madre enacted a historic preservation ordinance, and several owners of landmarked property claimed that their propert...
The court dismisses individuals' public nuisance action against sugar companies that allegedly disposed of a chemical byproduct of sugar cane processing by deep well injection. A trial court dismissed the individuals' nuisance claim because the individuals did not exhaust their administrative remedi...
The U.S. Supreme Court holds that the federal government holds title in trust for the Coeur d'Alene Indian Tribe to submerged lands underlying portions of Lake Coeur d'Alene and the St. Joe River in Idaho. The reservation was created by executive order in 1873, but it was never ratified by Congress....
The court affirms a trial court dismissal of a company's claim under R.C. Chapter 3746—the state voluntary action cleanup law—against the state department of transportation for costs allegedly incurred cleaning up contaminated company property. The court first holds that the company failed to un...
A Minnesota appellate court upheld a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency rule governing phosphorus effluent discharges into state waters. A coalition of cities argued that because the rule provides that a discharger "may" rather than "shall" qualify for an exemption if it demonstrates that it can mee...
A district court held that the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection may intervene in environmental groups' lawsuit challenging the DOI Secretary's approval of two amendments to the state's surface mining regulatory program. Although the goal of the state agency appears to be identica...
A Minnesota appellate court upheld a state permit regulating ballast-water discharges into Minnesota waters of Lake Superior. An environmental group argued that the agency erred in its interpretation and application of the state's nondegradation rule, failed to conduct an appropriate nondegradation ...
A district court enjoined a timber harvest project in Lassen National Forest until the Forest Service conducts an adequate and sufficient review under NEPA. Environmental groups brought a lawsuit challenging the Forest Service's EA for the project. The group argued that the Service failed to ensure ...
The Eighth Circuit affirmed a lower court order holding that a company substantially complied with a state's remediation plan for cleaning up PCB contamination at a hazardous waste site. The company's predecessor-in-interest operated an electrical transformer repair facility on the subject property,...