The court rules that mining wastes are hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) if they qualify as hazardous under one of the statutes, other than the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), incorporated by reference into th...

The court rules that any judgment against defendants in a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) cost-recovery action that is based on joint and several liability must be reduced by the full amount received by the government in earlier settlements in the actio...

The court holds that defendants' motion for a ruling that plaintiff may not recover costs from third-party defendant generators is not ripe. The court first rejects defendants' unsupported argument that plaintiff is estopped from seeking recovery from the third-party defendants. The court then rules...

The court upholds the Corps of Engineers' finding under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that a wetland filling project in Puerto Rico would have no significant environmental impact. The Corps found that the net impact of the proposed fill would be positive, destroying 100 acres of ecolo...

The court rules that the courts of appeals have exclusive jurisdiction to hear challenges to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for permissible doses of radiation from uranium fuel cycle operations. The court rules that the 1970 Presidential Reorganization Plan that transferred radiatio...

The court holds that plaintiffs may proceed with a citizen suit under §505 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) despite enforcement actions taken by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) against the defendant and despite defendant's pending application for modification of its nati...

The court rules that the sale of parts of a migratory bird falls under the felony provision of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, but a felony conviction under that provision would violate due process because the provision does not require criminal intent. The court first holds that the government's ind...

The court holds that application of the Corps of Engineers' revised Federal Water Pollution Control Act §404 regulations to defendants' property would be retroactive and inappropriate, and that an order for partial restoration of filled wetlands is equitable under the circumstances. Because defenda...

The Court holds that California's public trust interest in certain privately held tidelands was extinguished when the state failed to assert the interest in federal patent proceedings establishing the validity of title to lands ceded by Mexico in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo after the Mexican-Ame...

The court rules that the automatic stay provision of the federal Bankruptcy Code does not prevent the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources (DER) from compelling a debtor to correct violations of state surface mining laws. The court notes that the policy behind the automatic stay is to ...