The Federal Claims Court denied the U.S. government's motion to dismiss property owners' takings claims against it in connection with a U.S. Army Corps of Engineer's project along the shore of Lake Michigan. The owners claimed that the Corps' construction and maintenance of jetties from 1950 to 1989...

A district court held that the DOE's March 2003 decision regarding the remediation of Area IV of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Simi Valley, California, violated NPA. DOE's decision to issue a FONSI rather than prepare an EIS was a clear error of judgment. The remediation is not categorically ...

A California appellate court held that a lower court erred in transferring environmental groups' California Environmental Quality Act claim to another venue. The groups filed suit challenging the certification of an environmental impact report for, and the decision approving the construction of, a t...

The D.C. Circuit set aside an FAA letter that changed the runway use procedures at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Petitioners argued that the new procedures will route more jet aircraft onto two previously restricted runways, thereby increasing noise, soot, and exhaust fumes over r...

A New Mexico appellate court upheld the state's definition of "surface waters." In 2005, the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission revised New Mexico's definition of surface water by eliminating language referring to interstate commerce to ensure that the state has plenary power within its bor...

A California appellate court reversed in part a lower court decision dismissing a consumer group's complaints against various hotels and retail establishments for secondhand smoke and tobacco exposure. The group alleged that the defendants violated California Proposition 65 by exposing individuals t...

The court reversed a lower court's dismissal of an environmental group's Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) claim in a dispute over the registration of two pesticides containing atrazine. The lower court held that the group lacked standing. Contrary to the lower court's reasoning, however, the gr...

The court held that a lower court properly denied power companies' motions to compel their insurer to pay all past and future defense costs incurred in responding to a federal lawsuit under the Clean Air Act. The underlying claim, brought by the federal government, three states, and several environm...

The court upheld summary judgment against one insurance company and in favor of another insurance company in a dispute concerning the insurers' duties to defend a manufacturer against a third-party complaint for environmental cleanup costs. The lower court properly held that the first insurer had to...

The court upheld a lower court decision dismissing a developer's appeal of a state administrative order directing him to remedy deficiencies in a dam and an associated detention basin in Naugatuck. The agency commissioner properly acted within his statutory authority in issuing the order. Prior to i...