The court holds that the decision of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) to renew a wastewater discharge permit for Howard County's Little Patuxent Wastewater Treatment Plant that increases its discharge and does not set effluent standards for nitrogen was not supported by su...

The court holds that previous litigation in state court and New Jersey's "entire controversy" doctrine do not bar a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) citizen suit in federal court and declines to abstain while state proceedings are pending. The court holds that it has exclusive jurisdict...

The court holds that a trustee in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy may not abandon hazardous waste in contravention of state environmental laws, and that costs incurred by the state in cleaning up the site after bankruptcy was declared are entitled to first priority as an administrative expense under the Bank...

The court holds that construction of a highway through a state park that was established partially with federal funds is a federal action within the meaning of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) but that there is no cause of action under either §6(f) of the Land and Water Conservation Fun...

The court holds that the Corps of Engineers' wetlands determination for 50 acres of plaintiffs' land that were saturated as a result of the construction of a dam was not arbitrary and capricious. The court initially observes that Corps' wetlands determinations are evaluated under the Administrative ...

The court holds that the New Jersey Environmental Cleanup Responsibility Act (ECRA) applies prospectively only and a commercial taxpayer is not entitled to a reduction in the assessed value of a property based upon the costs of cleaning up hazardous waste on the property pursuant to ECRA's requireme...

The court holds that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) preempts Montgomery County, Maryland, regulations requiring commercial pesticide applicators to post sprayed areas and provide notification of pesticide hazards because FIFRA allows only states and not subdivisions ...

The court allows a bankruptcy trustee to abandon a contaminated hazardous waste site where the estate's assets are insufficient to decontaminate the site and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not oppose the abandonment and proposes to take remedial action itself. The court grants EPA ac...

The court holds that Hawaii's maintenance of mouflon sheep in the critical habitat of an endangered species constitutes a taking under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The court first rules that the definition of harm in the ESA prohibits activities that significantly modify or degrade a habitat re...

The court rules that reclamation fees under §402(a) of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) may be assessed on coal mined prior to SMCRA's enactment where the economic benefit has been derived after SMCRA's effective date. Therefore, a coal company may be assessed fees on coal min...