A California court held that the California Department of Public Health must adopt a final primary drinking water standard for hexavalent chromium. The state legislature commanded the department to adopt a standard by January 1, 2004; the department is therefore in ongoing violation of its ministeri...

A California appellate court held that a newly enacted state law that prohibits counties from restricting or limiting the importation of solid waste into a privately owned facility in the county based on the waste's place of origin preempts a voter-approved 1984 initiative measure that severely rest...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court decision granting summary judgment in favor of homeowners and the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection in a CERCLA and RCRA case involving soil and groundwater contamination under a Las Vegas shopping center. The homeowners...

The Supreme Court of Nebraska held that a 2010 state law that changed the manner in which wind energy generation facilities in Nebraska are taxed is constitutional. As part of legislation passed to encourage the development of wind generation facilities in Nebraska, the state legislature enacted a n...

The D.C. Circuit ordered the Maryland Department of Environment to act on a natural gas company's application to construct a natural gas compressor station in the state. The company applied for and received a certificate of public convenience and necessity from FERC. But before it can begin construc...

A California appellate court held that the California Air Resources Board (CARB) violated the California APA and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) when it adopted its Low Carbon Fuel Standards (LCFS) regulations to reduce the carbon content of transportation fuels sold, supplied, or of...

The Tenth Circuit upheld an EPA rule in which it rejected Oklahoma's regional haze plan to limit sulfur dioxide emissions at electric utility power plants and replaced it with its own more stringent regulations via a federal implementation plan (FIP). Petitioners—the state of Oklahoma, the utility...

The Fourth Circuit held that the discovery rule set forth in CERCLA §309 preempts North Carolina's 10-year limitation on the accrual of real property claims. The case arose after landowners filed a nuisance action against a corporation for allegedly contaminating their well water with concentrated ...

A California appellate court upheld a county ordinance banning single-use plastic bags and imposing a fee on single-use paper bags against claims that the ordinance was enacted in violation of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The county determined that the ordinance was categorically...

A Colorado appellate court held that under state law, a trial court may not order plaintiffs in a toxic tort case to present prima facie evidence supporting their claims after initial disclosures, but before full discovery begins, or risk having their case dismissed. The case arose after homeowners ...