The court reverses a district court decision holding that an environmental group's claims against the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for failing to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or the Endangered Species Act (ESA) before issuing a road easement are not ripe. Although DOE ...

A court dismisses two consolidated appeals that pertain to the construction and development of an interstate natural gas storage facility in New York. The first appeal was brought by the project developer who was concerned about the possible preclusive effect of the lower court's dismissal of a citi...

The court holds that groups who challenged a state's decision to add a company to the U.S. Department of the Army's license to operate a chemical demilitarization facility are estopped from challenging that company's licensure in federal court. The court first holds that the issues presented in the ...

The court holds that an environmental organization has associational standing to sue a chemical company for violating the terms of its National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. The court first rejects the district court's finding that the o...

The court holds that the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM's) denial under the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Land Withdrawal Act of an application to drill on an oil and gas lease did not constitute a permanent taking of the leaseholder's rights. BLM denied the application until the U.S. Environ...

The U.S. Supreme Court holds that a case containing claims that local administrative action violates federal law, but also containing state-law claims for on-the-record review of the administrative findings, can be removed to federal district court. The city of Chicago removed to federal court a law...

The court holds that the Eleventh Amendment does not immunize a receiver of estate trusts from being sued solely in its representative capacity. The state of California filed suit against the trustees of a manufacturer's estate to recover cleanup costs at the plant. At the trustees' request, the Con...

The court holds that the Eleventh Amendment does not bar the removal from state to federal court of a power plant's federal and state claims against a state environmental agency. The power plant filed claims in state court against state and county environmental agencies after they claimed that the p...

The court affirms a district court's grant of summary judgment to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on a toxicologist's claim that EPA violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) by hiring a contractor to convene and conduct an external peer review of benzene's carcinogenic effec...

The court reverses and remands a district court's allocation of insurance coverage costs between an insured and its excess insurers for soil, groundwater, and wetlands contamination at the insured's tank truck terminal. The court first holds that the district court had subject matter jurisdiction ov...