The court upholds the district court's award of attorney fees under Clean Air Act §304(d) to an environmental group that won substantial relief in litigation to enforce a consent decree requiring implementation of Pennsylvania's automobile emission inspection and maintenance program. The court hold...

The court holds that contribution is available for parties found jointly liable under §107 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The court first rules that Congress empowered the federal courts to establish a federal common law of liability under §1...

The court holds that appellee, corporate owner of a shopping mall that joined a Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) §505 citizen suit but sought relief only for aesthetic injuries and damages under pendent tort claims, lacked standing and thus is not entitled to attorneys fees and costs und...

In a Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) citizen suit seeking civil penalties against defendant for violations of its national pollutant discharge elimination system permit, the court assesses a large civil penalty after ruling that an organization need not identify injured members to have s...

The court rules that the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) preempts a state law injunction requiring the removal of inseparable radioactive and nonradioactive materials in order to alleviate nonradioactive harm. The court first holds that the district court's refusal to grant an injunction ordering the remova...

The court holds that civil penalties assessed against a debtor in possession for postpetition violations of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act are allowable as an administrative expense of preserving the estate under §§57(j) and 64(a) of the old Bankruptcy Act. The court holds that §5...

The court dismisses plaintiff's action to preliminarily enjoin for due process violations: (1) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issuance of an administrative monitoring order, pursuant to §3013 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) at a hazardous waste landfill; (2) EPA monitori...

The court rules that the five-year statute of limitations in 28 U.S.C. §2462 applies in citizen enforcement suits under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) and that violations recorded in defendant's discharge monitoring reports (DMRs) are conclusive on the issue of liability except tho...

The court holds that planners of the I-35W and I-30 highway expansions in Fort Worth violated the National Environmental Policy Act, the Department of Transportation (DOT) Act, and the Federal-Aid Highways Act (FAHA) when they transferred the "Overhead," a segment of the I-30 project, to the I-35W p...

The court rules that §106 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), which makes persons violating cleanup orders potentially liable for punitive damages, incorporates a good-faith exemption and does not violate due process.
The court rules that it lacks...