The court holds that the Illinois Coal Act violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Act requires public utilities to devise Clean Air Act (CAA) compliance plans and present them to the Illinois Commerce Commission for approval. The Act requires the utilities and the Commission to t...

The court holds, without opinion, that members of a utility industry group may intervene as of right under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a) in a suit to compel the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to promulgate revised standards of performance for NOx emissions from fossil fueled steam gene...

The court holds that the denial by an Oregon city and the Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation (Department) of oceanfront property owners' permit application to construct a seawall in the dry sand area of their property does not constitute an uncompensated taking under the Fifth Amendment to th...

The court holds that environmental audit memoranda prepared by company personnel to assist the company's attorneys in evaluating its compliance with environmental laws and regulations are protected by the attorney-client privilege. The court thus denies a motion to compel production of the audit doc...

The court dissolves a 1992 injunction that prevented the U.S. Forest Service (Forest Service) from auctioning or awarding timber sales to log suitable habitat for the northern spotted owl in Regions 5 and 6 until the Forest Service implemented revised standards and guidelines in compliance with the ...

The court upholds the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) decision not to list used oil from gasoline-powered engines that is destined for disposal as hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA). The court first holds that petitioners have standing to challenge EPA...

The court declines to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over state-law claims in an action brought by a municipal owner of a contaminated landfill asserting two Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) claims and nine state-law claims against waste depositors t...

The court holds that under New Mexico law the doctrine of strict liability may apply to the storage and disposal of chemical wastes that pose a threat to health and welfare. New Mexico has adopted the doctrine of absolute liability for abnormally dangerous activities set forth in Restatement of Tort...

The court holds that a Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) enforcement action by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) against mining companies was not a regulatory taking of the companies' property. The action required the co...

The court affirms a Court of Federal Claims decision that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' denial of a residential development company's request for a Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) §404 permit to fill wetlands was a complete regulatory taking of the property for which the permit was ...