The court holds that a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation that creates a 12-month grace period exempting transportation projects in nonattainment and maintenance areas from Clean Air Act (CAA) §176(c) is contrary to the plain meaning of the CAA. The court first holds that an envi...

The court holds that the issue of whether a six-year statute of limitations for actions brought by the United States applies to Minerals Management Service (MMS) administrative orders to pay oil and gas royalties is moot. The MMS issued an order on May 17, 1994, finding that an oil company's predece...

The court holds that the owners of royalty interests in federal oil and gas leases are not entitled to royalty payments from their lessee. During ongoing title disputes over mineral patent rights between the federal government and several private parties, the lessee acquired both federal and private...

The court affirms a district court holding that, under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), an interagency Port-Orford cedar (POC) management program prepared by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) was not a final agency action that requir...

The court holds that the U.S. Forest Service failed to meet National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements for public disclosure of information and failed to take a hard look at the effects of proposed timber sales from the Miners Creek and West Camas Creek drainages in the Targhee National F...

The court issues a mandatoryinjunction against an oil company for extensive contamination of a river and surrounding land, but due to lack of evidence refuses to enjoin three other companies. The court first declines to invoke the doctrine of primary jurisdiction. The doctrine does not mandate blind...

The court holds that the National Park Service's (NPS') decision not to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the removal of 12 horses from Santa Cruz Island in the Channel Islands was not arbitrary and capricious. The NPS planned to remove the horses and other animals in order to allo...

The court affirms the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) decision to redesignate the Cleveland-Akron-Lorain, Ohio, area as a Clean Air Act (CAA) attainment area for ozone. The court first holds that an organization of manufacturers and local governments from the Pittsburgh-Beaver Valley,...

The court holds that a corporation's insurance policy covered costs related to the 1979 discovery of contamination resulting from a 1974 perchloroethylene (PERC) spill. The court first notes that under Rhode Island law "property damage" and "occurrence" are inextricably intertwined. There can be no ...

The court holds that an insurance company does not owe a duty to defend and indemnify policyholders in an action arising out of the policyholders' maintenance of a solid waste dump on property subsequently sold to a developer. The court first holds that the policyholders have preserved only the owne...