A California appellate court held that a city's revised environmental impact report (EIR) for a proposed development project along an estuary complies with the California Environmental Quality Act. The project would develop approximately 64 acres, converting a maritime and industrial area into ...
A district court held that the FWS' biological opinion (BiOp) for the U.S. Army's proposed ongoing and future operations at Fort Huachuca—a major military installation in southeastern Arizona—violates the ESA and is arbitrary and capricious. The BiOp concluded that the operations will not jeopar...
The Third Circuit denied environmental groups' petition for review of an NRC decision granting a license renewal for the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station. The groups, who intervened in the license renewal proceedings, offered several contentions challenging the licensee's plans to detect...
A Michigan appellate court reversed the dismissal of a property owner's trespass claim against a prior owner of the site, but upheld the dismissal of the remaining tort and state-law claims stemming from the discovery of USTs on the site. The owner filed suit against two prior owners, arguing that b...
A district court reinstated the roadless area conservation rule to the Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska. The court previously ruled on motions for summary judgment that a U.S. Forest Service rule exempting the Tongass from the roadless rule's prohibitions was arbitrary and capricious. ...
A district court granted in part and denied in part the government's motion to dismiss an environmental group's claims that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE) failed to modify its policies and practices concerning offshore oil and gas leasing operations in th...
The Federal Claims court denied a mining company's motion and the government's cross-motion for summary judgment in a Fifth Amendment takings claim stemming from various CERCLA remediation actions taken at the mine. The company argued that the government effectively denied access to parts of the min...
A district court dismissed an insurance company's CERCLA §§107 and 112 claim for response costs incurred by one of its policy holders seeking to redevelop the site of a former aerospace manufacturing facility. Because insurance payments made pursuant to a contractual obligation are not "respo...
A Michigan appellate court affirmed a lower court decision that res judicata bars a landowner's CERCLA, tort, and state law actions against a neighboring gasoline station for response costs and other monetary damages. The property owner originally filed suit in 1995, but the case was settled...
A California court ordered the California Air Resources Board to set aside its "functional equivalent document" and scoping plan to reduce greenhouse gases as it relates to cap and trade. The court ruled that the board inadequately described and analyzed project alternatives in violation of the...