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...

A California appellate court held that a property owner may not intervene in an insurance coverage dispute between an insurance company and the former property owner from which the current owner seeks contribution. The current owner argued that it has a legitimate interest in making coverage argumen...

The Fourth Circuit held that the Natural Gas Act (NGA) preempts a county bill prohibiting the siting of any liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal within 1,000 feet from the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. The bill is an amendment to the state's critical management plan (CMP) because it imposes a ...

The Ninth Circuit held that federal law preempts Washington State's Cleanup Priority Act, a statute enacted through the passage of a voter initiative. The Act was intended to "prevent the addition of new radioactive and hazardous waste" at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation site until cleanup of existi...

The Supreme Court of California reversed a lower court decision in favor of conservation groups challenging the state forestry department's approval of three timber harvest plans that allow logging on private land in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The department's selection of geographic areas for ass...

A California appellate court upheld the dismissal of a homeowners association's claim against the California Coastal Commission for requiring it to pay an in-lieu mitigation fee as a condition of a permit to build a seawall. The seawall would cause passive erosion that would eventually eliminate an ...

A Minnesota appellate court upheld a state environmental agency decision denying a mining company's request to eliminate the "control-city" standard from its air quality permit. The standard required the company to keep the asbestos fiber count in the air at its Silver Bay facility to the level ordi...