A California appellate court upheld the dismissal of an environmental group's petition challenging a city's water supply assessment for a large-scale industrial/business park development. The adequacy of the assessment is properly challenged as a part of a challenge to an environmental impact report...

The Federal Circuit affirmed a lower court decision that a contractor was not entitled to an award of costs or damages in its breach of contract claim against the government concerning the treatment of contaminated soil at a U.S. Navy facility. The contractor sought to recover additional soil treatm...

The Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of state takings claims arising out of a state ban on open-pit mining for gold or silver by the cyanide heap leaching process. The plaintiffs, who prior to the ban had acquired leases of Montana state property for the purpose of mining gold, silver, and other t...

The Second Circuit remanded with directions to dismiss claims against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a former Agency administrator for misleading plaintiffs into believing that the air quality in lower Manhattan in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, was safe enough to permit th...

The Federal Claims court recommended that $34.3 million be awarded to former Kentucky landowners whose farms were taken during World War II (WWII) for a military training facility. When the federal government condemned the land, it paid only for the surface rights, not for the underlying mineral rig...

A Michigan appellate court affirmed a lower court judgment ordering a company to investigate and, if necessary, to clean up contamination at a former foundry operation. The company argued that the trial court erred in holding it liable for cleanup of the site to residential, rather than industrial, ...

The D.C. Circuit held that the U.S. Department of the Interior's (DOI's) approval of a proposed casino on Native American lands did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). An internal DOI document states that proposals for "large" and/or "potentially controversial" gaming establish...

A district court ordered the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) to publish a final listing determination for the polar bear by May 15, 2008. The parties agreed that the DOI failed to meet its nondiscretionary duty under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) §4 to act on the proposed rule within o...

A California appellate court held that a subdivision project that a county initially approved but for which subsequent delays caused the tentative map to expire is not a new project for purposes of environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Nothing significant about ...

The Supreme Court of Connecticut held that an individual convicted for storing and disposing of hazardous waste without a permit in violation of state law is entitled to a new trial due to improper jury instructions. The trial court improperly charged the jury as to the elements of "disposal" and "s...