The court holds that an agency decision in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) causes potentially irreparable environmental injury for purposes of a preliminary injunction by making completion of the project more likely. The court first holds that noncompliance with NEPA is an ...

The court holds that the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) is unconstitutionally vague when applied to defendant, whose application of registered pesticides to an alfalfa field inadvertently poisoned a flock of geese. The court first notes that the lack of a scienter element in a strict liability cri...

The court permits the owner of a hazardous waste site to sue a bank that had foreclosed on a tenant's contaminated equipment for contribution under Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) §107. The court first holds that the landowner's own liability under CER...

The court holds that a district court properly denied a motion for a preliminary injunction in a challenge to federal and state agencies' approval of the conversion of segments of the Seneca State Park in Maryland to highway use. The court first holds that the district court properly concluded that ...

The court holds that Nevada lacks standing to challenge the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM's) issuance of a right-of-way authorizing the Department of Energy (DOE) to study the Yucca Mountain area as a potential repository of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. The court holds tha...

The court holds that Alabama state officials do not have standing under the Fifth Amendment or the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) to challenge the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) selection of remedy to clean up a hazardous waste site in Texas...

The court declines to reconsider an earlier order holding that a Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) citizen suit defendant's bioplant bypasses constitute violations of its national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit. In its earlier decision, the court held that the Califo...

In a decision designated not for publication, the court holds that an insurer has no duty to indemnify or defend its insureds for hazardous waste cleanup costs. The court holds that under Tennessee law, the pollution exclusion clause is unambiguous and excludes hazardous waste cleanup costs and liti...

The court holds that an environmental organization has standing to challenge the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM's) decision to lift protective restrictions on 180 million acres of public land. The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) challenged BLM's implementation of its land withdrawal review prog...

The Supreme Court rules that states may be sued for money damages under Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) §107, and that this is a proper exercise of congressional authority under the Constitution's Commerce Clause. Five separate opinions were filed in t...