The court holds that the New York Freshwater Wetlands Act (FWA) preempts a local wetlands and drainage law because the state retains regulatory authority over freshwater wetlands until the local government meets statutory and regulatory requirements needed to assume jurisdiction over its wetlands. T...

The court upholds the district court's determination that defendant's discovery misconduct in a drinking water contamination case did not result in substantial interference with the preparation and presentation of plaintiff's case. The district court found that defendant's failure to reveal the exis...

The court holds that a provision of a state Superfund regulation that authorizes a finding of significant threat based on potential harms exceeds its enabling legislation and is not severable from the regulatory framework. A nonprofit corporation sued for a declaration of the regulation's invalidity...

The court holds that Regulation 8 and its vehicle emissions testing (VET) program created by the Air Pollution Control District (APCD) of Jefferson County, Kentucky, is constitutional. The VET program—which applies to all motor vehicles registered in Jefferson County, to vehicles located in Jeffer...

The court holds that penalties for Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) violations in a citizen suit are available for pre-complaint violations. Plaintiffs must prove that the polluter committed post-complaint violations or that, at the time of trial, there is a reasonable likelihood that spo...

The court holds that portions of Interior Department regulations implementing the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) are invalid. The court first strikes down regulations requiring coal mine operators to correct subsidence damage to buildings from underground mines only to the extent...

The court holds that a secured creditor is liable under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) if its involvement with the management of the facility is sufficiently broad to support the inference that it could affect hazardous waste disposal decisions. Th...

The court holds that a district court did not abuse its discretion in approving two partial consent decrees in a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) action to recover response costs. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) entered into an administrative s...

The court enjoins the Forest Service from offering timber for harvest on the Bighorn National Forest because the Land and Resource Management Plan's assurance that harvested lands could be restocked within seven years is illegal under a provision of the National Forest Management Act that requires r...

The court rules that a district court is not bound by an administrative law's arbitrary and capricious standard when reviewing an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) request for injunctive relief under §106(a) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). ...