Pennsylvania Supreme Court Upholds Harms/Benefits Test Requirement for Landfill Permitting December 2005

Ninth Circuit Grants Preliminary Injunction to Prevent Forest Service Timber Sales in the El Dorado National Forest May 2006

Ninth Circuit Reverses District Court Ruling Related to Implementation of the Star Fire Restoration Plan January 2004

Statutes Granting Religious Organizations an Exemption from Historic Landmark Designation and Regulation Have a Secular Purpose March 2001

Colorado Supreme Court Upholds Water Court’s Determination to Revise Water Use Decree to Allow Greater Nontributary Groundwater Withdrawals June 2005

Colorado Supreme Court Distinguishes Contractual Water Delivery Rights from True Water Rights July 2005

Colorado Supreme Court Expands on Legal Requirements for Water Rights Abandonment December 2003

Fourth District Court Confirms Date of Deposit as Valuation Date in Eminent Domain Proceeding for Water Pipeline Easement February 2008

Third District Court Upholds Timber Harvest Plans in El Dorado and Calaveras Counties January 2005

California Supreme Court Allows Flexibility in Environmental Review of Timber Harvest Plans July 2008

Fifth District Faults California Department of Forestry for Failing to Ensure that Biological Assessment Areas Evaluated for Timber Harvest Plans Are Tailored to Individual Species June 2006

Constitutionality of City's View Protection Ordinance Upheld in Contentious Action between Neighbors March 2001

Court Holds Environmental Organizations’ Allegations of Members’ Actual Use of Waterway and Impairment of Aesthetic or Recreational Interest Sufficient to Confer Standing Under CWA Citizen Suit Provisions January 2001

Court Holds Environmental Organizations’ Allegations of Members’ Actual Use of Waterway and Impairment of Aesthetic or Recreational Interest Sufficient to Confer Standing Under CWA Citizen Suit Provisions January 2001

Environmental Organization Members’ Use of Waterway Sufficient to Confer Standing on Behalf of Members under Clean Water Act Citizen Suit Provisions January 2001

Environmental Organization Members Use of Waterway Sufficient to Confer Standing on Behalf of Members under Clean Water Act Citizen Suit Provisions January 2001

D.C. Circuit Finds EPA Used Proper Methods to Validate Tests for “Whole Effluent Toxicity”. February 2005

Texas Awaits Key State Supreme Court Ruling in Groundwater Regulation June 2010

Utah Court of Appeals Upholds Lower Court Decision that Land Owner Lacked Standing to Challenge Sewer and Water Service Fees August 2009

Ninth Circuit Upholds Environmental Impact Statement for Gas and Oil Drilling Project Off the North Coast of Alaska December 2001

District Court Let Stand Strict Liability Claim Premised on Allegation that Use of Dry Cleaning Chemicals Constitutes an Ultrahazardous Activity August 2008

On Appeal from Department of Ecology Decision, Washington State Pollution Control Hearings Board Announces New Rule for Avoiding Relinquishment Due to Water ‘Unavailability’ December 2006

Federal Circuit Holds that Government Must Indemnify Contractor for CERCLA Liability Despite the Anti-Deficiency Act. July 2004

A Polluter that Voluntarily Initiates Clean-Up Cannot Later Seek CERCLA Contribution from the Federal Government October 2006

District Court of New Jersey Denies Contribution Rights under CERCLA Absent CERCLA Enforcement Action. March 2004

Third Circuit Reverses Earlier Decision Barring CERCLA PRP Cost Recovery, Relying on Atlantic Research Decision January 2008

Claims Court: Federal Claims Court Renders Indemnification Clause in War-Time Contract Invalid January 2003

Third District Court Upholds Reclamation Plan Approval Based on a Negative Declaration. November 2004

Third District Court Upholds El Dorado County’s Finding that Mining Reclamation Plan Did Not Require Preparation of an EIR December 2004

Third District Court Narrows the Ability of State Water Resources Control Board to Impose Term 91 November 2006

Parties Appeal State Water Resouces Control Board’s Standard Permit Term 91 Decision May 2004

Superior Court Concludes that the State Water Resources Control Board Improperly Disregarded “Legislatively Established Priorities” to Water Rights October 2003

The Public Cannot Gain a Prescriptive Easement over Private Property Based on Prior Recreational Use June 2002

Fourth District Holds County Assessor Must Undertake Property Reappraisals for Two Years Following a Proposition 8 Property Tax Reduction March 2003

Fourth District Court Upholds EIR For Conversion of Mobile Home Park to Public Recreational Facilities December 2004

New Mexico Court of Appeals Holds the State Engineer Has Discretion over Amended Declarations Claiming Non-Vested Water Rights July 2005

District Court in New York Refuses to Contradict the Supreme Court’s Decision on CERCLA Contribution Claims April 2005

Billboard Advertiser Cannot State a Cause of Action under the Permit Streamlining Act until the Lead Agency Has Taken Specific Action under CEQA May 2001

New York City’s Failure to Maintain Dam Not an Adequate Basis to Support Federal Civil Rights Action October 2008

Sixth Circuit Upholds District Court’s Dismissal of Citizen Lawsuits Precluded by EPA Consent Decrees January 2005

District Court Dismisses Fire Department’s CERCLA Suit to Recover Costs Associated with Motor Vehicle Accidents May 2010

New York District CourtDeclines to Dismiss Landowner’s Action under § 107 of CERCLA because Owner Might Qualify for the “Third Party” or “Innocent Purchaser” Defense September 2004

In Eminent Domain Action, First District Court of Appeal Finds Evidence of Comparable Sales to Redevelopment Agency Not Admissible to Determine Valuation November 2002

District Court Holds a Potentially Responsible Party Can Sue for Contribution under CERCLA §107 May 2007

California Coastal Commission's Administrative Appellate Jurisdiction Expires if No "Substantial Issue" Hearing Is Held within the 49-Day Statutory Time Limit July 2003

Fourth District Finds EIR Fatally Flawed and Project Inconsistent with Orange County’s General Plan October 2005

Federal Lawsuit Seeks to Push Interior to Delist Brown Pelican May 2009

Ninth Circuit Holds State and Local Government Procurement Decisions under Fleet Rules Not Preempted under the Clean Air Act October 2007

Texas Court of Appeals Upholds Denial of Irrigation District’s Application to Proceed in Bankruptcy June 2008

News from the West June 2008

District Court Holds Statue of Limitations for CERCLA Response Costs Begins upon Completion of All Removal Actions—Groundwater Contamination Is a ‘Continuing’ Nuisance December 2008

N.Y. Supreme Court Requires Riparian Right Owners to Share Equally with One Another December 2009

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds EPA’s Clean Water Act Cost-Benefit Analysis May 2009

Seventh Circuit Affirms EPA’s Right to Withhold Documents Pursuant to the Deliberative Process Exemption of the Freedom of Information Act August 2004

District Court in Texas Denies Implied Right to Contribution of Indemnification under the Clean Water Act November 2005

Fifth Circuit Holds EPA’s Consent Decree Moots Clean Water Act Citizen Suit July 2008

California Courts Continue to Focus on California Environmental Quality Act’s Requirements for Analysis of Project’s Contribution to Climate Change October 2008

Third District Finds Public Agencies Fulfilled Their Statutory Duties under CEQA and CESA In Creating Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan November 2006

Sacramento Superior Court Grants Peremptory Challenge Finding Parties Timely Filed Challenge under Code of Civil Procedure Section 170.6 July 2008

The Wandering Clean Water Act: Ninth Circuit Tackles Regulation of Stormwater Pollution from "Small" Dischargers March 2003

Supreme Court Denies Certiorari to Ninth and Fifth Circuit Decisions Allowing Permitting Requirements For Discharges From Small Storm Sewer Systems and Small Construction Sites August 2004

Ninth Circuit Requires Agency Review and Public Participation in the Issuance of Notices of Intent Pursuant to the CWA’s Phase II Stormwater Requirements December 2003

Ninth Circuit Rules that U.S. Environmental Protection Agency General Permit Option Violates Clean Water Act December 2003

Third District Rules Notice of Legislative Body’s Hearing on Zoning Change May Not Be Given before Planning Commission Recommendation Is Received February 2008

The U.S. Supreme Court Interprets EPA’s Authority under the Clean Air Act in Two Landmark Decisions (Part 2 of 2) June 2007

The U.S. Supreme Court Interprets EPA’s Authority under the Clean Air Act in Two Landmark Decisions (Part 1 of 2) May 2007

EPA’s ‘Hot Spot’ Rule for Particulate Matter Emissions, in Part, Remanded by D.C. Circuit February 2008

D.C. Circuit Rejects EPA’s ‘Interim Tests’ as Contradicting Existing Clean Air Act State Implementation Plans December 2006

Second Circuit Denies Challenge to New York’s Failure to Comply with National Ambient Air Quality Standards. July 2004

District Court Finds Army Corps of Engineers’ Recent Mississippi Levee Project Failed to Comply with Clean Water Act November 2007

EPA’s Final Rule Interpreting Clean Air Act’s Umbrella Air-Monitoring Rule Ruled Inconsistent with Prior EPA Proposal December 2005

Lawsuit Argues Public Trust Doctrine Compels State and Local Agencies Protect Depletion of Scott River from the Effects of Groundwater Extraction August 2010

California Supreme Court Finds Incidental Take Permit with an Overly Broad ‘No Surprise’ Clause An Abuse of Discretion October 2008

Environmental Groups Sue Department of Fish and Game over Permitting Guidelines for Incidental Take of Coho April 2008

News from the West November 2008

First District Court Upholds Agreements Allowing Timber Harvesting in Humboldt County February 2006

Paper Industry Fails to Obtain Interlocutory Appeal of Public Interest Group Clean Water Act Action June 2004

District Court Rules that Timber Companies Engaging in Forest Logging Are No Exempt from Clean Water Act’s Permitting Process for Point Sources January 2004

Oregon: Court of Appeals Reverses Sewage Sludge Water Quality Violation January 2001

District Court Finds Pleadings Sufficient to Withstand Motion to Dismiss Clean Water Act and RCRA Claims against Walt Disney Company January 2010

Fourth District Concludes National Church May Enforce Trust on Local Parish Property under California Case Law August 2007

Texas Court of Appeals Affirms a Settlement Made on Behalf of a Ward in an Environmental Lawsuit January 2005

Ninth Circuit Holds Landlords Must Seek State Compensation for Lost Rents Before Challenging Rent Control Ordinances in Federal Court November 2007

New Jersey Appellate Division finds Property Boundaries Determined by Waterline Requires Testimony Rather than Mere Documentary Evidence July 2008

Connecticut Appellate Court Skirts Riparian Water Rights Issue to Find Land Owner’s Dock on Water Body in Violation of Building Permit July 2008

Fourth District Court Determines Installation of Manufactured Homes Are “Improvements Pertaining to Realty” under Eminent Domain Law July 2005

Developer Has No Right to "Takings" Compensation where Developer's Land Was Burdened Prior to Purchase by the Washington Public Trust Doctrine December 2002

Litigant’s Failure to Explicitly Raise an Issue Before the District Court Is Foreclosed from Raising the Issue for the First Time on Appeal August 2006

D.C. Circuit Orders EPA to Promulgate Vehicle Emissions Test Regulations December 2002

Eleventh Circuit Affirms Dismissal of RICO Action Premised on Environmental Pollution February 2004

Berkeley's Anti-Discrimination Ordinance, Aimed at City Money Subsidizing Private Groups Using City Property, Survives Constitutional Scrutiny February 2003

First District Upholds City’s Certification of Applicant Prepared EIR and Approval of Zoning Variance for Church School Playground March 2007

Sixth District Court Upholds City of San Jose’s Redevelopment Plan Justified by Findings of Blight July 2005

Lawsuit Seeks to Invalidate Amador Water Agency Resolution Related to Amador Water Transmission Project October 2005

California Court of Appeal Overrules Industry Challenge to Inclusion of Phthalate on Proposition 65 List of Chemicals Known to Cause Reproductive Toxicity March 2009

U.S. Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Case—Decision Expected to Impact Punitive Damages in Environmental Cases April 2008

U.S. Supreme Court Holds Punitive Damages Awarded Against Exxon Excessive as a Matter of Maritime Common Law August 2008

Ninth Circuit Approves Exxon's Recovery of Portion of Punitive Award through Assignment Clause in Settlements April 2001

Faced with ‘Contradictory’ Allegations, District Court Dismisses ExxonMobil’s Contractual Indemnity Claims against Petroleum Sales and Distribution Facility July 2010