The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required by Section 108 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and liability Act of 1980, 42 U.S.C. §§ 9601–9675 (CERCLA), to establish financial assurance and responsibility rules for classes of facilities that are associated with the production, transportation, treatment, storage or disposal of hazardous substances.…
The Presidio Army Base in San Francisco, once the headquarters of the Sixth Army and a favorite post of many soldiers and their families, is now a National Park and a National Historic Landmark. For many years, plans to renovate and protect the old post have been thoroughly discussed and…
In the case of Center for Biological Diversity, et. al v. U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in an unpublished opinion released on January 12, 2016, reversed the lower court’s dismissal of a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Citizens Suit filed against the…
The ability of churches and other religious institutions to engage in ordinary business activities can be unexpectedly and adversely affected by provisions in some state constitutions which can be interpreted to exclude them from having access to public funds and public resources based on nineteenth century constitutional amendments. On January…
On January 25, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court, in FERC v. Electric Power Supply Association, et al., a 6 to 2 ruling, reversed the May 2014 decision of the D.C. Court of Appeals, which had held that a final rule of FERC governing the “demand response” in which operators of…
Thanks in part to the current standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge—and the 2014 armed confrontation in Nevada that preceded it, the contentious issue of grazing rights on federal lands is more front of mind nationally than it’s been in decades. With the federal government owning and controlling millions…
In an insurance case attracting the attention of many insurance companies, Century Indemnity Company v. Marine Group, LLP, et al., a U.S. Magistrate Judge with the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon (Portland Division), in its opinion and order on Marine Group’s motion for clarification and reconsideration, held that…
Citizens Suits have played an important role in the enforcement of both the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Clean Air Act (CAA), and all permittees of wastewater discharge permits and air quality permits should be aware of the significance of these Congressionally-approved remedies. While they have broad application to many…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in Group Against Smog and Pollution v. Shenango, Incorporated, affirmed the dismissal of a Clean Air Act (CAA) Citizen Suit where state regulators were engaging in an ongoing action against Shenango when GASP’s complaint was filed, and where the federal court had retained…
In United States v. Tonawanda Coke Corp., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in an unpublished opinion released on January 11, 2016, rejected Tonawanda’s appeal of the lower court’s judgment adjudicating it guilty of criminal offenses under the Clean Air Act (CAA) and Resource Conservation and Recovery…