The court holds that property owners operated two illegal junkyards in violation of a city's zoning laws and that such operation constituted a nuisance. The city planning commission determined that the properties were nuisances, and the commission's decision to uphold the city's cease and desist ord...

The court holds that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) violated Safe Drinking Water Act §1412(b)(3)(A)'s statutory mandate to use the best available evidence when it implemented the chloroform maximum contaminant level goal (MCLG). During rulemaking for the chloroform MCLG, EPA ostensi...

A district court issued a temporary restraining order enjoining the shipment of Hawaiian garbage to a landfill located on lands ceded by the Yakama Nation in Washington State near the Columbia River. There are serious questions as to whether the USDA adequately analyzed the environmental impacts of ...

The court vacates and remands a district court's order issued after an Endangered Species Act case brought by an environmental group against a lumber company had been declared moot. The district court granted the lumber company's motion to dismiss the case as moot but then issued an opinion outlinin...

The court grants Illinois' request to remand to state court its case against the U.S. Department of the Army (Army) for improperly releasing pollutants from its Joliet Army Ammunition Plant into waste streams and outfalls that ultimately ended up in Prairie Creek, a tributary of the Kankakee River. ...

The court affirms a district court decision that municipal liens placed on individuals' property did not constitute a taking or violate the individuals' due process rights. In 1992, and again in 1993, a town imposed municipal liens on the property for municipal improvement. In 1999, the individuals ...

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...