The California Supreme Court reversed a lower court decision that a developer's proposal to demolish an existing home and build a 10,000 square-foot single-family home on the lot may not be categorically exempt from environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). After th...

The Texas Supreme Court reinstated a jury verdict in favor of a waste disposal facility in a trespass case filed against it by a neighboring rice farm. At trial, the farm argued that deep subsurface wastewater from the facility trespassed beneath its property, but the jury returned a verdict in the ...

A Pennsylvania court affirmed a lower court order granting the Pennsylvania Department of the Environment's (PaDEP's) petition to investigate, remediate, and clean up contamination on private property under the Pennsylvania Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act (HSCA). The property became contaminated after a...

The New Jersey Supreme Court held that the general six-year statute of limitations for injury to real property does not apply to private claims for contribution made pursuant to the New Jersey Spill Compensation and Control Act (Spill Act). The case arose after a commercial property owner sought to ...

A California court held that federal mining law preempts a state law that effectively bans the use of any vacuum or suction dredge mining in streams and rivers on federal lands. Under Cal. Fish & Game Code §5653, the use of any vacuum or suction dredge equipment by any person in any river strea...

The Tenth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed and remanded in part a lower court decision granting a Utah county rights-of-way over 12 roads that cross federal lands. The county sought to quiet title to 15 roads or road segments under the Quiet Title Act. The county asserted rights-of-way under §...

A New Jersey appellate court held that the state environmental agency exceeded its authority when it seized control of a privately owned landfill under an emergency order intended to abate an alleged imminent threat to the environment arising from continued emissions of hydrogen sulfide. The order e...

A Washington State appellate court held that a county ordinance banning the land application of the most common class of biosolids is unconstitutional. The state' s biosolids program was created in 1992 to facilitate and encourage recycling, rather than disposal, of sewage waste, and the state's env...

The Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court's grant of summary judgment in favor of an energy construction company for whistleblower retaliation against an employee in a case concerning cleanup efforts of nuclear waste at the Hanford Nuclear site in Washington state. The “opt-out” provision of the ...

The D.C. Circuit upheld an NRC order transferring regulatory authority over decommissioning activities at a former aluminum production plant to the state of New Jersey under the Atomic Energy Act. New Jersey’s regulatory regime is adequate and compatible with the NRC’s regulatory program. And de...