The court holds that the district court properly imposed a ban on new sewer hook-ups in the Boston Harbor area until the state legislature gives the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) authority to acquire a site suitable for a residuals landfill. The residuals landfill is a crucial eleme...
The court holds that a electroplated copper circuit foil manufacturer is liable in a Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) citizen suit for violating its national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit. After the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a s...
The court holds that sufficient evidence exists that a successor corporation is liable in this Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) contribution action for substantially continuing the previous business. The court earlier denied defendant's similar summary j...
The court denies a motion by two cities in Missouri to intervene in an action by the United States and Missouri against parties potentially responsible for dioxin contamination under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The court first holds that the ci...
The court enters two consent decrees that require the installation and operation of a temporary incinerator at Times Beach, Missouri, for burning dioxin-contaminated soil from 28 sites in eastern Missouri during a 10-year period at a cost exceeding $80 million. The decrees resolve claims by the Unit...
The court dismisses an action by the state under the Rivers and Harbors Act (RHA), the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA), the public trust doctrine, and federal common law to enjoin defendant from further construction and occupation of a residential structure on a bay. The defendant obtained a perm...
The court holds that the Forest Service's decision to exchange a parcel of federal land was not arbitrary or capricious and did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA), or the First Amendment. The court holds that the Forest Service...
The court affirms the conviction and sentence of a chemical engineering manager at a circuit board manufacturing company for violations of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) pretreatment standards. The defendant was convicted of two counts of violating FWPCA §309 by knowingly dischargi...
The court holds that the owner of property containing wetlands must exhaust its administrative remedies before bringing an action for an inverse taking of property without just compensation against the county where the property is located. The county enacted an ordinance prohibiting new construction...
The court holds that the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) does not preempt a state criminal prosecution of an employer for criminally negligent homicide in the deaths of employees. A corporation and its president pled nolo contendere to the offense of criminally negligent homicide in the...