The court rules that there is no right to a jury trial in an action for private response costs under §107 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). Under Tull v. United States, 17 ELR 20667, the Seventh Amendment provides a jury trial in actions that are...

The court upholds an order issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) denying petitioner's request to stay the NRC's extension of an expired construction permit and to halt further construction at the Comanche Peak Steam Electric Station in Texas. The court first holds that the NRC properly d...

The court holds that the two-acre exemption under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) does not preempt Pennsylvania's laws and regulations governing surface mining operations smaller than two acres. Nothing in SMCRA's plain language suggests that state laws affecting such small op...

The court rules that the Eleventh Amendment does not bar a private suit in federal court against a state for monetary damages arising under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) as amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA)...

The court holds that petitioner citizen groups' procedural rights were not violated when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) permitted the Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant in North Carolina to begin full operations. The court first holds that petitioners had no right to notice and an opportuni...

The court holds that insurance companies must indemnify the township of Gloucester for cleanup and closure costs at the township's landfill under the terms of a comprehensive general liability policy, but not for fines and penalties assessed against the township for violations of state environmental...

The Court rules that citizens may not bring suit under Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) §505 for wholly past violations, but may bring suit if they make a good-faith allegation of continuous or intermittent violations. The most natural reading of FWPCA §505's provision allowing citizen ...

The court rules that an Indian tribe is a "person" within the meaning of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), RCRA preempts tribal sovereign immunity from citizen suits, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has no authority to regulate solid waste on an Indian reservation. The...

The court holds that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's amendments to its Hazard Communication Standard were not "promulgated" within the meaning of the Occupational Safety and Health Act until they were published in the Federal Register. The use of both "issued" and "promulgated" i...

The court holds that the Interstate Commerce Commission permissibly interpreted §208 of the National Trails System Act Amendments of 1983 as conditioning rail-to-trail conversions on the negotiation of voluntary agreements between abandoning railroads and prospective interim trail users. The statut...