The court holds that under California law, environmental response costs for actions taken by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) constitute "damages" within the meaning of a comprehensive general liab...

The court holds moot a citizen suit under §505 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) against a tannery operator for alleged discharges of industrial wastewater into a New York State sewer system in violation of the FWPCA and state law. Applying dicta from the U.S. Supreme Court's holdi...

The court holds that an Office of Government Ethics' (OGE's) regulation allowing federal employees to accept reimbursement for expenses incurred in giving "official" speeches, but not "unofficial" speeches, is valid on its face under the First Amendment. The court first holds that the proper standar...

The court holds that the presumption against extraterritorial application of statutes does not apply where the conduct regulated by the statute occurs primarily, if not exclusively, in the United States, and the alleged extraterritorial effect of the statute will be felt in Antarctica, and remands f...

The court dismisses claims by owners of property adjacent to a natural gas pipeline that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Natural Gas Act (NGA), and the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution when it issued a certificate ...

The court holds that the Federal Power Act (FPA) preempts state regulation of a federally licensed hydroelectric power project in a national forest in California. The court first holds that the action is ripe for review even though plaintiff dam operator has not completed the state permitting proces...

The court holds that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) must prepare a new environmental assessment (EA) for the shipment of 118 spent nuclear fuel rods from Taiwan through the port of Hampton Roads, Virginia, to a processing facility on the Savannah River in South Carolina, because its 1991 EA for...

The court holds that the seller of real property, whom the buyer alleges sold the property with soil contamination, is not entitled to indemnification or contribution from the buyer's environmental consultant, who reported before the sale in a subsurface soil and groundwater contaminants investigati...

The court upholds the denial of an Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) award of attorney fees to a party prevailing on at least one significant issue in its unsuccessful attempt to block issuance of a permit to the city of Virginia Beach for the construction of a potable-water pipeline because the go...

The court affirms a district court decision that Montana's two-year statute of limitations for property damage claims bars claims by a Superfund site owner against manufacturers of chemicals discarded by the owner on the site. The court holds that the discovery rule, which tolls the statute of limit...