The court upholds regulations issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) pursuant to the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (UMTRCA) that establish standards for the NRC to follow in licensing and relicensing uranium mills and tailings sites. The court first rules that the UMTRCA req...
The court rules that the 60-day notice requirement in the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act's (CERCLA's) citizen suit provision is jurisdictional. The court first holds that a claim by landowners for response costs arising out of hazardous waste contamination shou...
The court holds that the failure of landowners to inspect property prior to purchase and to find plainly visible leaking hazardous waste drums does not negate the innocent landowner defense in Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) §101(35). The court first h...
The court holds that the Bureau of Reclamation is not required to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) before reducing the water flow to the south fork of the Snake River below Palisades Dam in Idaho. The court holds that plaintiffs are not entitled to a preliminary injunction, since the ...
The court, in a case involving various environmental statutory violations by a hazardous waste facility in Louisiana, approves a consent decree that requires defendants to donate a portion of its fine to an endowment fund at Louisiana State University (LSU) for the study of hazardous waste issues. T...
The court holds that the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) new interpretation of the provision of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) governing variances from the Act's land disposal prohibitions is reasonable. RCRA §3004(h)(4) provides that wastes that qualify for this two-ye...
The court holds that a debtor in bankruptcy may abandon a site where it operated a pesticide plant if the estate pays $250,000 for removal of pesticides buried at the site. The court initially observes that, while it may not substitute its judgment for that of the Environmental Protection Agency (EP...
The court holds that New York's Pesticide Notification Program, which imposes notification requirements on commercial pesticide applicators, is not preempted by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). New York requires commercial pesticide applicators to use written contract...
The court holds that an exchange of fee coal interests between the Department of the Interior (DOI) and a mining company complied with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and with the applicable management framework plan (MFP). The court initially notes that the adequacy of an environmental...
The court holds that the Secretary of the Interior is not required by the Alaska National Interests Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), or the Mining in the Parks Act (MPA) to conduct on-site field inspections to determine whether a valuable discovery has been ma...