The court holds that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was not required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) after the discovery of new information regarding the presence of nesting northern spotted owls in an old growth tim...
The court holds that the government contractor defense does not immunize the Department of Energy and its contract-operator of a nuclear weapons plant from tort liability, because they violated applicable environmental laws. The court first holds that operating the plant is an abnormally dangerous a...
The court affirms a district court decision holding that the 60-day time limit in §526(a) of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act for challenges to the Department of the Interior's approval or disapproval of state enforcement programs is jurisdictional.
[The district court decision is pu...
The court rules that state laws regulating the transportation of hazardous materials by rail are governed by the strict preemption provisions of the Federal Railroad Safety Act (FRSA) rather than the more liberal preemption provisions of the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (HMTA). The court f...
The court holds that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has exclusive authority under the Federal Power Act (FPA) to set hydroelectric power project minimum water flow rates. The court first holds that the degree of deference owed to FERC's interpretation of the FPA is considerably rela...
The court holds that private plaintiffs seeking reimbursement under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of their closure costs at a sanitary landfill have failed to establish that their response costs are consistent with the National Contingency Plan. Plaintiffs...
The court rules that the petroleum exclusion in §101(14) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) applies to leaded gasoline. CERCLA §101(14)(F) excludes "petroleum, including crude oil and any fraction thereof not specifically listed as a hazardous sub...
On remand from the United States Supreme Court, the court holds that an interim county flood control ordinance prohibiting construction on plaintiff's property did not constitute a taking. After all the buildings on plaintiff's private campground were destroyed in a flood, the county passed an inter...
The court holds that the liability exemption under Comprehensive Environmental Reponse, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) §107(f) for natural resource damages that were identified in an environmental impact statement (EIS) does not apply to damages from activities before the EIS was issued. ...
The court generally upholds the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) regulations implementing the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act's (RCRA's) prohibition on land disposal of hazardous solvents and dioxins. The court first holds that EPA's decision to use technology-based standards alone, ...