The court rules that generators of hazardous waste are strictly or absolutely liable for injuries caused by wastes leaking from disposal sites, but that waste haulers, municipal dump owners, and state regulators are not. Ruling on summary judgment motions by several groups of defendants in an action...

The court rules that cleanup cost recovery actions under Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) §311(f)(1) are governed by a six-year statute of limitations under 28 U.S.C. §2415(a). The court notes that the FWPCA does not specify a statute of limitations and its legislative history does not ...

The court holds that a citizen who kept a fuel and waste oil facility with an alleged history of zoning and pollution law violations under surveillance from her neighboring property is not liable for invasion of privacy. First, the corporate entity cannot maintain an action for invasion of privacy, ...

The court rules that under §505(b)(1) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA), an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrative enforcement proceeding is not a "court" action barring commencement of a citizen enforcement suit. Applying its analysis in an earlier case under the cit...

In a suit brought by the state of New York under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and state nuisance law to require defendants to remove hazardous waste from their property, the court affirms the district court's finding of civil contempt against defendants f...

The court holds that the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) monitoring program for total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) meets the Safe Drinking Water Act's mandate to protect the public health. EPA requires only quarterly monitoring, and determines compliance with the maximum contaminant level (MCL)...

The court holds that the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act Authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to conduct investigations to identify and assess releases and empowers it to enter sites to do the investigations. The court grants EPA's motion for an o...

The court holds that the three year statute of limitations in §112(d) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) does not apply to CERCLA §107 cost recovery actions, which may be brought at any time. The court favors this construction for five reasons. Fi...

The court holds that, under §104 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and §3007 of the Resource, Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was entitled to seek injunctive relief and civil penalties against defendant oper...

The court remands in part the Office of Surface Mining's revised Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) regulations dealing with subsidence, prime farmland, roads, alluvial valley floors, stream buffer zones, excess spoil, performance bonds, backfilling and grading, topsoil, and fish and...