The Alaska Supreme Court held that a proposed clean water initiative relating to the regulation of large-scale metallic mineral mines was constitutionally and statutorily permissible and was qualified to appear on a statewide 2008 election ballot. The initiative would not make a constitutionally imp...
A California appellate court remanded in part a lower court decision denying a paint manufacturing association's petition challenging amendments to an air district rule limiting the amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) allowed in various kinds of paints and coatings. The association argued th...
The Federal Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court decision in favor of the U.S. government on claims that it breached certain contracts between the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and California water districts concerning Central Valley Project water resources. The lower court concl...
A California appellate court reversed a lower court’s dismissal of an action on the grounds that the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) improperly granted an exemption from the California Forest Practice Act (FPA) to a property owner to convert his timberland to an orchard...
A district court granted the United States’ motion for summary judgment to find that certain timber harvesting provisions of a forest management plan did not violate the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) and the Tongass Timber Reform Act (TTRA). Plaintiffs—several Alaskan ...
A Colorado appellate court reversed a lower court decision to hold that the Colorado Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) prevented the state from increasing the coal removal tax rate without prior voter approval. The tax rate is determined by a statutory formula, whereby a base rate is periodically adju...
A Colorado appellate court reversed a lower court decision to hold that the Colorado Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) prevented the state from increasing the coal removal tax rate without prior voter approval. The tax rate is determined by a statutory formula, whereby a base rate is periodically adju...
The West Virginia Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part a series of jury verdicts, orders and rulings in a class action where the owner of a zinc smelter facility was found liable to class members for approximately $382 million in damages related to off-site arsenic, cadmium, and lead ...
The California Supreme Court reversed a lower court decision to find that a citizen group’s suit challenging a city’s approval of a Wal-Mart was time barred under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The city filed a notice of exemption (NOE) announcing its determination that the app...
A California appellate court reversed a lower court decision that granted in part a citizen group’s petition for a writ of mandate under the California Environmental Quality Act challenging the certification of an environmental impact report (EIR) by a university board in regards to the developmen...