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...

The court holds that a challenge to a federal highway project in Hawaii was properly dismissed for mootness and that Congress did not violate the Spending Clause, the Fifth Amendment, or the doctrine of separation of powers in exempting the H-3 project from the requirements of §4(f) of the Departme...

The court holds that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC's) refusal of a request to assess the need for conditions to protect wildlife in two hydroelectric interim licenses was an abuse of discretion under the Federal Power Act (FPA). Petitioner, a trust formed as part of a litigation s...

The court holds that a suit by four environmental groups and the government of Ontario, alleging that Detroit's nearly completed municipal waste incinerator will violate the Michigan Environmental Protection Act (MEPA), was improperly removed to federal court. The Michigan Department of Natural Reso...

The court holds that current owners of a site contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) who received their interest in the property through a stock transfer are entitled to assert the innocent landowner defense in §§101(35) and 107(a) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensat...

The court holds that the former owner of a chrome plating facility that allegedly discharged hexavalent chromium into an underground aquifer relinquished his right to judicial review on the merits of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) order, pursuant to §3013 of the Resource Conservation...

The court approves a consent decree in a Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) citizen suit that provides funding to a private organization for a wetlands mitigation project. The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) FWPCA civil penalty policy specifically authorizes the use of environment...