A district court held that a paper company that sold "broke," a byproduct of its manufacturing process, to paper recyclers was not an arranger under CERCLA for PCB contamination in a river. The company lacked knowledge that broke could be hazardous; it invested money and labor in treating, sorting, ...

The Third Circuit vacated as moot a lower court decision that dismissed a contractor's third-party complaint against Pennsylvania and the commonwealth's natural resources agency for cleanup costs associated with Quehanna Wild Area Nuclear Site. The contractor argued that the lower court erred by...

The Fifth Circuit dismissed environmental groups' petitions challenging DOI's approval of 16 oil well exploration and development plans that were issued between March 29 and May 20, 2010, under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA). The groups argued that the agency failed to consider th...

The D.C. Circuit held unripe an oil and natural gas association's petition for review challenging a 2008 EPA regulation deregulating many hazardous secondary materials under RCRA. The association argued that EPA erred in not including in the deregulation a category of hazardous secondary materia...

A district court dismissed California's suit against DOI challenging its approval of the Colorado River Water Delivery Agreement under NEPA and the CAA. The state alleged that DOI failed to comply with the two statutes prior to approving it and sought an order immediately ceasing water deliverie...

A district court held that a Canadian mining company, if found liable under CERCLA, will be subject to joint and several liability for response costs incurred by the state of Washington and a Native American tribe along a portion of the Upper Columbia River. In this case, the harm is the entiret...

A district court held that a property owner may go forward with its RCRA claims against neighboring property owners for groundwater and soil contamination, but it dismissed the owner's CERCLA claim against a water district that operated a sewer line between the two properties. The owner adequate...

A district court dismissed an insurance company's CERCLA claim against a tree nursery to recover response costs incurred by firefighters responding to a fire. The fire involved chlorine, a hazardous substance, and the company asserted that its insureds--two fire companies—"removed" and "remediated...

A district court held that the doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel bar individuals' trespass, nuisance, and negligence claims against numerous oil, coal, electric, and chemical companies for damages stemming from Hurricane Katrina. The individuals asserted that the companies' activitie...

The Federal Circuit vacated a trial judge's decision requiring the United States to indemnify certain oil companies for environmental cleanup costs under CERCLA. Because the trial judge's wife owned shares in the parent company of two of the defendant oil companies, he decided to sever the two o...