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North Slope Borough v. Minerals Management Serv.

A district court dismissed a lawsuit filed by Alaska native groups seeking to rescind certain oil and gas leases issued by the Minerals Management Service (MMS) in 2007. The MMS prepared an EIS in 2003 for lease sales that were to occur in 2003, 2005, and 2007. Because of the time lag between the 20...

National Mining Ass'n v. Kempthorne

The D.C. Circuit upheld the U.S. Department of the Interior's (DOI's) interpretation of "valid existing rights" in a 1999 rule to foreclose surface mining operations in sensitive areas. A mining association argued that Congress inserted "valid existing rights" in the Surface Mining Control and Recla...

Schuette & Koerting, Inc. v. Regional Water Quality Control Bd.

A California appellate court reversed a lower court decision denying a petition to set aside a regional water board order requiring a company to perform a human health risk assessment in connection with its cleanup of a large toxic groundwater plume of industrial wastes that leaked into the ground a...

Communities for a Better Env't v. South Coast Air Quality Management Dist.

A California appellate court held that a regional air quality district abused its discretion under the California Environmental Quality Act in issuing a negative declaration for an ultra low sulfur diesel fuel manufacturing project. The environmental group challenging the project offered substantial...

Public Citizen, Inc. v. National Highway Safety Admin.

The D.C. Circuit held that a consumer group lacks standing to challenge a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) safety standard requiring a warning system for underinflated tires. The group alleged that some of its members will suffer car accidents in the future that otherwise would...

Nascimento v. Preferred Mut. Ins. Co.

The First Circuit held that under Massachusetts law, an insurance company has no contractual obligation to defend or indemnify an individual in an environmental liability suit brought against him by his neighbors for soil contamination stemming from a leaking underground storage tank (UST). The tota...

Coastside Fishing Club v. California Resources Agency

A California appellate court upheld a lower court decision dismissing claims challenging a memorandum of understanding (MOU) entered into by a state agency and an environmental group to help implement the California Marine Life Protection Act. In enacting the statute, the state legislature failed to...

In re Otter Tail Power Co.

The Supreme Court of South Dakota upheld the state's approval of a permit to construct a coal-fired energy conversion facility. Certain nonprofit environmental organizations asserted that the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the plant would contribute to global warming, thereby posing a threat of...

United States v. ExxonMobil Corp.

A district court held that a nonsettling potentially responsible party (PRP) may intervene in a consent decree between the United States and settling PRPs concerning the reimbursement of response costs incurred at the Beede Waste Oil Superfund site in Plaistow, New Hampshire. The nonsettling PRP's m...

Litgo New Jersey, Inc. v. Jackson

A district court granted a motion to dismiss Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, and New Jersey Spill Compensation and Control Act claims filed against the state environmental agency and its commissioner in connection ...