The Federal Circuit affirmed in part and remanded in part a lower court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the United States in a water district's breach of contract and takings suit against the government in connection with a water supply project in Ventura County, California. In August 1997, ...

A district court held that the Clean Air Act (CAA) does not preempt a local air district rule that requires developers to reduce nitrogen oxide and particulate matter emissions from their projects or to pay a fee to offset such emissions. The rule is not a standard subject to CAA §209. It neith...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court's entry of summary judgment in favor of the U.S. government dismissing a property owner's claim that he is entitled to an easement to access his property located within Glacier National Park. The National Park Service (NPS) allowed inholders some degree of mo...

The Eighth Circuit denied a petition for review of a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) order authorizing the reconstruction of the Taum Sauk Pumped Storage Project, a hydroelectric generating plant in the Missouri Ozarks. In 2005, the upper reservoir of the project collapsed, and the opera...

The Indiana Court of Appeals upheld the state's approval of a public utility's petition to construct an integrated gasification combined-cycle electric power plant. A statutory requirement that the state value property that is "used and useful" in determining rate base of a public utility does not c...

A California appellate court held that a county violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the county's general plan, and the state water code when it issued a conditional use permit allowing a proposed mining project on preserved agricultural land. The environmental impact report (EI...

A California appellate court held that an environmental group challenging proposed revisions to a solid waste facility permit for a local landfill is entitled to an administrative hearing before the county. The county denied the group's hearing request, reasoning that only operators, not third parti...

A district court dismissed the claims of the three remaining plaintiffs in a toxic tort case arising from the alleged release of radioactive and other hazardous substances from a uranium mill in New Mexico. The plaintiffs, current and former residents of neighborhoods adjacent to the mill, argued th...

The Seventh Circuit upheld a lower court order enjoining a power company from building a coal-fired power plant without first obtaining a new prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) permit from the state of Illinois. The state's environmental agency granted the company a PSD permit in 2001. Th...

The Supreme Court of California held that under some circumstances, an agency's agreement allowing private development, conditioned on future compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), constitutes approval of the project that must be preceded by the preparation of an environmen...