The court denies an environmental group's motion to amend their complaint in a Clean Air Act (CAA) challenge to a Brooklyn development project to add three claims and the Department of Commerce as a defendant. The court first holds that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) duty under C...
The court dismisses a complaint against the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) alleging a violation of Clean Air Act (CAA) §176(c) for failing to monitor the compliance of a Brooklyn development project tentatively approved for HUD funding. An earlier decision held that HUD's prelimi...
The court holds that pesticide manufacturers may be liable under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) for hazardous substance contamination resulting from releases occurring during the pesticide formu...
The court holds that the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) 1980 deferral of rulemaking addressing regional haze in national parks was final agency action under Clean Air Act (CAA) §307 reviewable only in the D.C. Circuit, and thus the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over a...
The court holds that a petroleum industry trade organization is not entitled to a preliminary injunction to halt implementation of New York's motor vehicle fuel volatility rule even though it is likely to succeed on the merits of its claim that Clean Air Act §211 preempts the state rule. After the ...
The court holds that the district court's application of the knowing endangerment provision of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) in the criminal trial of the operator of a drum recycling facility was not unconstitutionally vague. RCRA §3008(e) provides that any person who knowingly ...
The court holds that the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) notification that an insured is a potentially responsible party (PRP) under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) does not trigger an insurer's duty to defend. The policies at issue state ...
In a private cost recovery action under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), the court holds that the plaintiff does not have standing to allege that the costs of its pre-purchase investigation were caused by a release or a threatened release of hazardo...
The court rules that multiple awards of punitive damages for the same course of conduct violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The court first rules that actions for punitive damages are not sufficiently criminal in nature to trigger the protect...
The court rules that a Maine statute designed to protect outstanding rivers prohibits the construction of new dams on protected rivers and prohibits dam redevelopment that would diminish the river's significant resource values. The court holds that although the Maine legislature sought to encourage ...