Responding to an inquiry from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday, in a 5 to 4 decision, that the “coercive nature” of the administrative proceedings employed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act’s (CERCLA)…
In the case of Association of Irritated Residents v. EPA, decided June 23, 2015, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied a petition for review filed after EPA acknowledged that it had mistakenly approved certain New Source Review (NSR) rules affecting ozone emissions in California’s Central Valley (which…
An important Fifth Amendment Takings Clause case was decided today. The U.S. Supreme Court, by reversing the Ninth Circuit, has terminated the decades-old litigation over the Department of Agriculture’s administration of the California raisin “marketing order.” The case is Horne, et al. v. Department of Agriculture. Chief Justice Roberts, writing…
The U.S. Supreme Court will not hear an appeal of the Fifth Circuit’s decision which reversed the lower court’s ruling. The Fifth Circuit found that the State of Texas had violated the Endangered Species Act in its administration of the state water permitting program which allegedly denied adequate amounts of…
The Texas Supreme Court issued two significant rulings on June 12, 2015. In the case of Dacus, et al v. Annise Parker, et al., the Court reversed the judgment of the Court of Appeals of the Fourteenth Circuit, and held that the 2010 proposed amendment to the Houston City Charter,…
In a decision released on June 11, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, by a 2 to 1 decision, affirmed the lower court’s grant of summary judgments in favor of the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (the Bureau) and two…
In the case of GeorgiaCarry.Org, Inc., et al., v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, decided June 9, 2015, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the lower court to deny a request for a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of the Corps’ regulation that prohibits loaded firearms…
In the case if McClung v. Paul, decided June 8, 2015, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the lower court that the District Corps Commander’s revocation of a federal permit to use the boat dock and concrete steps located on federal property adjacent to the McClungs’…
On June 1, 2015, in a case about the interplay between the right of individual property owners to seek redress for the diminution in value of their properties caused by light, noise, and airborne chemical particulates originating from the operation of adjacent regulated energy production facilities and the right of…
On June 4, 2015, U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal issued a long ruling, resolving a number of partial summary judgement motions filed in the case of Exxon Mobil Corporation v. United States. Exxon’s predecessors owned and operated large refineries located in Baytown, Texas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana (which are being…