On September 30, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued a ruling dismissing claims that the operation of a municipal waste landfill violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) provisions making actionable any “substantial endangerment to human health and the environment.” The case is Toxics…
On October 29, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) published a final rule in the Federal Register which amends and revises the environmental National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) procedures rules employed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). There is a…
On October 30, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit decided the case of Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co., LLC v. Permanent Easements for 2.14 Acres, et al. , affirming the District Court’s grant of a preliminary injunction to Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC (Transcontinental). This case involves…
On October 18, the Illinois Supreme Court decided the case of Ameren Transmission Co. of Illinois v. Hutchings, et al. According to the Illinois Supreme Court, there is no presumption that Illinois courts have subject-matter jurisdiction over administrative actions. The availability of any review of this determination was controlled by the…
On October 23, in another case that turned on the reviewing court’s authority to review an administrative action, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia held that the petitioners, having failed to raise their objections to a Biological Opinion the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission relied on in their petition…
On October 18, in Landry’s, Inc. and Houston Aquarium, Inc. v. Animal Legal Defense Fund, et al., the Texas Fourteenth Court of Appeals, sitting in Houston, affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of a lawsuit alleging that the defendants, including the Animal Defense Fund, defamed the plaintiffs’ business with the publication of…
In another recent U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit decision, on October 1, 2018, the Fifth Circuit affirmed, in part, the District Court’s ruling that the general federal statute of limitations, 28 U.S.C. § 2462, required the dismissal of the government’s civil enforcement action in the case of U.S.,…
On September 21, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a ruling interpreting potential liability under the Oil Pollution Act (OPA). In U.S. v. Nature’s Way Marine, LLC, the Fifth Circuit affirmed the holding of the District Court that, under OPA, the owner of a tugboat moving…
On September 27, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the District Court’s ruling that the “Zero Emissions Credit” (ZEC) program of the New York Public Service Commission is not unconstitutional. The case is Coalition for Competitive Electricity, et al. v. Zibelman, Chair of the New York Public Service…
In early October, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit rules in two Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund) cases: Giovani v. U.S. Department of the Navy On October 2, the Third Circuit decided the case of Giovanni, et al., v. U.S. Department of the…