Ninth Circuit Finds a Petitioner’s Burden to ‘Demonstrate’ a Permit for Pollutant-Emitting Activities Violates Title V of the Clean Air Act May 2010

Massachusetts Court of Appeals Upholds Recreation Use of Water over Restrictive Municipal Ordinance January 2006

Statute Providing Public With Recreational Access to Surface Waters Fails Due Process Constitutional Scrutiny March 2003

Fourth District Holds City’s Issuance of Grading Permit Consistent with Conditional Use Permit Did Not Violate CEQA April 2007

Regulatory Agency's Determination that Project Is Exempt from CEQA Need Only Be Supported by Substantial Evidence and Includes Implied Finding of No Significant Adverse Impact March 2003

First Circuit Finds Reasonable Prospect of Future Harm Raises Citizen Suit Standing under RCRA February 2007

Prohibiting Big Macs and Rollbacks: California’s Ever-Expanding Regulation of Retail End-Users December 2007

Fourth District Finds that an EIR Does Not Need to Identify the End User of a Commercial Project. October 2004

Second District Court Finds City of Long Beach Not Liable for Inverse Condemnation Related to Sewer Breach April 2005

Second District Upholds City’s Use of Addendum under CEQA where Revised Project Will Not Result in New Significant Impacts or Increase Severity of Disclosed Impacts October 2007

New Hampshire Supreme Court Finds Non-Waterfront Land Owner Has Right to Access Lake October 2009

Second District Court Finds Due Process Rights Violated in Rent Control Hearing December 2008

Fourth Circuit Upholds EPA’s Policy that States with Primary Enforcement Authority under the Safe Drinking Water Act Determine whether Mobile Home Communities are Exempt December 2006

California Court of Appeal Finds Sale Agreement Language Only Obligated Seller to Clean Up Pre- Sale Contamination. February 2005

District Court Holds that Federal Government’s Violation of State Strict Liability Statute Does Not Give Rise to Liability under Federal Tort Claims Act. August 2004

First Circuit Holds that RCRA Does Not Waive the Government’s Sovereign Immunity from Private Actions to Recover Cleanup Costs July 2005

Sacramento Superior Court Finds the Actions of the California Coastal Commission Violates the Separation of Powers Doctrine of the State Constitution June 2001

Endangered Species June 2001

Third District Court Overturns Attorneys’ Fees Award against the California Coastal Commission May 2008

California Supreme Court Rules Coastal Commission Is Constitutional August 2005

California Coastal Commission Held Unconstitutional; Legislative Responses Likely February 2003

Deodorizers May Be Considered Pollutants for Pollution Exclusion Purposes May 2003

Texas Court of Appeals Finds “Disposal” Requires Affirmative Conduct and “Knowingly” Does Not Require Knowing that Waste Is Categorized as Hazardous. November 2004

Second Circuit Holds CERCLA Does Not Preempt State Statute Limiting Dissolved Corporation’s Capacity to Be Sued October 2007

In Environmental Toxic Tort Litigation, Court May Exclude Expert Witness Testimony that Does Not Satisfy Daubert Test January 2004

Colorado: Supreme Court Finds Special District Plant Investment Fees Not Subject to Constitutional Takings Challenge May 2001

Second District Court Finds Non-Owner Residents within Planned Development Lacked Standing to Enforce Governing Documents August 2009

First District Court Rules that CEQA Does Not Apply to Interior Home Projects February 2006

Fourth District Court Finds County Grading Ordinance Compliance Required Notwithstanding Federal Funds Grant November 2008

Second Circuit Rejects Environmental Insurance Coverage Claim and Reaffirms That New York Law Determines Claims for Multi-Site Insureds August 2003

District Court Dismisses Labor Organization’s Request for Order Preventing Air District from Issuing Power Plant Permits and to Compel EPA to Issue Endangerment Determination June 2008

On First Anniversary of Supreme Court’s Landmark Decision on Greenhouse Gas Regulation, the Same States and Environmental Groups Take EPA Back to Court May 2008

Climate Change: A New Practice Area for Law Firms? May 2008

District Court Dismisses California’s Global Warming Nuisance Claims against Automakers November 2007

Impact of Massachusetts v. EPA Briefed in Global Warming Appeal October 2007

Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate Change: CEQA Catches Up with Science, Celebrities, and Product Placement 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

District Court Construes Indemnity Clause to Include Costs Associated with Voluntary Remediation June 2007

Pennsylvania Superior Court Finds Carbon Monoxide Is a Pollutant for Pollution Exclusion Purposes March 2003

Court of Appeal Finds California’s Lead and Copper Rule Test Methodology under SDWA Invalid March 2004

Appellate Parties Brief First District Court on Issue of Test Methodology in Drinking Water Contamination Cases July 2003

Montana Supreme Court Construes Easements over Largest Fresh Water Lake West of the Mississippi December 2009

News from the West December 2009

New Jersey Appellate Division Finds Riparian Easement Remains Despite 20-Day Ownership by Dominant Estate March 2010

Sixth District Finds Coastal Commission Failed to Make Findings that Denying a Development Permit Would Result in a ‘Taking’ in Violation of the Coastal Act March 2009

Sixth District Finds Monterey County’s CEQA Determination ‘Intermediate Environmental Decision’ Not Subject to Judicial Review March 2007

Texas Appeals Court Affirms Conviction of Utility Operator for Providing Benzene-Tainted Water to Customers December 2004

Third District Rejects Holding in McCormick v. Board of Supervisors—Finds CEQA Requirement to Request a Hearing within 90-days Satisfied by Document Entitled “Request for a Hearing”. December 2004

Ninth Circuit Holds CERCLA’s Provision Superseding State Statutes of Limitations Extends to State Statutes of Repose January 2009

Sixth Circuit Holds that Ohio Landowners Have a Property Interest in Groundwater; Governmental Interference Can Constitute a Taking March 2006

Ninth Circuit Issues Opinions in Three Unrelated Cases Regarding the Constitutionality of Local Ordinances Restricting Billboards January 2008

Irrigation Pumps to Submit to Stricter Air Pollution Regulations under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Settlement with Environmental Groups November 2003

Texas Court of Appeals Applies Doctrine of Negligence Per Se to Environmental Pollution October 2003

District Court Grants Class Certification Motion in Groundwater Contamination Case October 2002

Second District Court Rules Real Party In Interest May Be Liable for Attorneys’ Fees as an ‘Opposing Party’ under Private Attorney General Doctrine December 2007

Second District Court Rejects Use of Mitigated Negative Declaration where Potential Wildlife and Traffic Impacts May Exist August 2005

Fifth District Finds Addition of ‘Supercenter’ to Project Does Not Necessarily Require an Urban Decay Analysis in a Subsequent or Supplemental EIR May 2010

District Court Rejects Use of Consent Order to Establish Plaintiff as ‘Prevailing Party’ in Parallel RCRA Suit Initiated by Private Party November 2007

District Court Considers Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claims Premised on Environmental and Labor Law Violations December 2009

Colorado Supreme Court Leaves Unchanged the Court of Appeals Finding that Ground Water Management District Rules May Reduce Well User’s Right to Use below Amount Authorized by Permit May 2010

News from the West January 2010

District Court Finds Former Property Owner Not Liable for Contamination under RCRA or CWA Based on the Mere Presence of Pollutants June 2010

News from the West August 2009

District Court Dismisses as Time-Barred Claims for Damage Allegedly Caused by Air Pollution. July 2004

Water Rights Decisions in Washington’s Okanogan County Uphold Agency Decisions Reducing Diversions, Increasing Instream Flows October 2003

Ninth Circuit Enforces City Sign Ordinance and Rejects Claim of First Amendment Violation March 2009

Federal Regulation of Land Use Permitting Decisions for Wireless Telecommunications Facilities October 2005

District Court Grants Taxicab Association Injunction against Implementation of State Fuel Economy Regulation January 2009

Preliminary Injunction Prevents New York City from Implementing Minimum Miles Per Gallon Standards For New Taxis December 2008

California Supreme Court Examines Roles of Judge and Jury in Water Pipeline Condemnation Case October 2007

Fourth District Finds Trial Court Erroneously Prevented Jury from Considering Claim of Severance Damages in Action for Eminent Domain March 2006

In Another Post-Aviall Decision the Seventh Circuit Found Voluntary Cleanup Created Implied Contribution Claim Rights under CERCLA § 107(a) March 2007

Sixth Circuit Finds Insurer Not Responsible for Defending Insured for False Claims Act Violations which were Based on Clean Water Act Violations February 2001

City Entitled to Retroactively Cure Mistake in Adoption of Mobilehome Rent-Control Ordinance Proposed by Initiative Petitions March 2005

U.S. EPA’s Final Rule Amending Federal Underground Injection Control Requirements Meets Administrative Procedure Act Requirements August 2008

District Court Imposes Strict Requirements for Discharges in the Florida Everglades June 2010

District Court Imposes Sweeping Injunction to Address Phosphorus Pollution in the Florida Everglades May 2010

Eleventh Circuit Upholds Unitary Waters Theory— Finds Such Water Transfers Do Not Require an NPDES Permit under the Clean Water Act July 2009

Eleventh Circuit Affirms U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Opinion on Corps’ Everglades Operations—Rejects Habitat-Based Incidental Take Statement June 2009

District Court Grants, in Part, EPA’s Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings as to Claims Related to Setting of Phosphorous Discharge Standards under the Clean Water Act May 2006

District Court Grants, in Part, EPA’s Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings as to Some Claims Related to Setting of Phosphorous Discharge Standards under the Clean Water Act April 2006

Water Agencies Take Special Interest in Two East Coast Clean Water Act Cases Requiring NPDES Permits for Large Water Purveyors April 2003

Michigan Court of Appeals Limits Groundwater Pumping for Nestlé’s Bottled Water Plant January 2006

A Peat Mining Company Petitions to the United States Supreme Court to Address EPA's Authority in a State-Administered Wetland Permit Program Under the Clean Water Act July 2002

State Court Enjoins New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and Game Commission from Action on Recovery Plan for Endangered Meadow Jumping Mouse July 2008

Recent Investigations, Settlements, Penalties and Sanctions May 2005

Tennessee Federal District Court Allows Mental Distress Damages for Contamination of Prop-erty October 2004

Third District Upholds Mining Reclamation Regulation as within State Mining and Geology Board’s Authority and Consistent with the Surface Mining Act June 2006

Fourth District Upholds Irvine’s Certification of Program EIR for General Plan Amendment and Zone Change August 2004

Water Districts in the Coachella Valley Settle Lawsuit over Groundwater February 2005

Eighth Circuit Affirms Mootness of Non-Permitted Discharge under the Clean Water Act April 2003

Federal Circuit Court Affirms Dismissal of Inverse Condemnation Claim Arising from Pollution Adjacent to Military Base June 2005

U.S. Court of Federal Claims Holds that Action for Government’s Contamination of Groundwater Lies in Tort, Not Inverse Condemnation . June 2004

Washington State Court Finds 2000 Gallons of Gasoline into a Monitoring Well Is Not a Useful Product. February 2005

Water Rights and Water Quality Issues in Land Use Decisions: Example from Oregon October 2002

Second District Court Finds City’s Heightened Criteria for Exemption from Development Moratorium a Taking of Plaintiffs’ Property November 2008

U.S. Supreme Court Reverses Injunctions That Prohibited Deregulation and Planting of Genetically Modified Seeds August 2010

Developments in the Law of Groundwater in Montana January 2006

News from the West May 2008

Montana Sues Wyoming to Protect Compact-Related Water Rights April 2007

New Mexico Supreme Court Requires State Engineer to Consider All Declarations of Water Rights of Record when Considering Change from Surface to Groundwater Rights February 2007

First Circuit Holds Discretionary Function Exception of The FTCA Bars Jurisdiction where Homes Were Damaged by Dredged Material Dumped by the Corps without a Water Quality Certificate or Exemption March 2006

Eleventh Circuit Affirms Stay of Federal Water Pollution Case because of Parallel State Court Action August 2004

First District Court Sets Forth Rules of Merger Pursuant to the Subdivision Map Act November 2004

San Joaquin County Superior Court Upholds EIR for City of Stockton’s 2035 General Plan March 2010

District Court Rules Assignee May Bring CERCLA Section 107 Claim, but Failed to Satisfy Notice Provisions under Clean Water Act and RCRA Citizen Suit Provisions January 2009

A Mobilehome Park Owner Has Neither a Constitutional Right Nor a Right under City Ordinance to a Rent Increase Tied to Each Capital Improvement May 2004

Will Morgan v. Imperial Irrigation District Unravel the Quantification Settlement Agreement? December 2003

California Supreme Court Rules Agency Failed to Comply with Administrative Procedure Act in Establishing Hazardous Materials Fee Regulation June 2006

Dual Representation and Due Process: Maintaining the Line Between Advocate and Advisor in Land Use Proceedings February 2010

Supreme Court Holds Water Licensee’s Due Process Rights Intact Where Prosecutor also Served as Advisor to Licensing Board May 2009

Third District Court Prohibits State Water Resources Control Board Counsel from Acting as Both Prosecutor and Advisor October 2007

Tenth Circuit Finds that CERCLA PRP Can Proceed with Cost-contribution Claim against Another PRP because It Was Operating under the Direction of a State Agency October 2002

Third Circuit Attempts To Set Forth Analysis To Be Applied In Cercla Arranger Liability Disputes November 2003

Third Circuit Rejects Appeal of CERCLA Contribution Claim as Premature because Dismissal Order Was Not a ‘Final Decision’ November 2006

First District Court Holds Resubmittal of Expired Tentative Map Does Not Constitute a New Project under CEQA—Supplemental Review Required for New Water Supply June 2008

D.C. Circuit Orders EPA to Reconsider or Explain Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutant Emissions from PVC Production August 2004

Washington Appellate Court Affirms Water Right Relinquishment Order, Rejecting Due Process Challenge August 2005

Fifth Circuit Remands Environmental Tort Claim to State Court August 2002

Second District Court Holds Property Owner Estopped to Contest Coastal Commission’s Jurisdiction over Protracted Proceedings December 2008

Fourth District Court Confirms Trial Date for Valuation in Eminent Domain—Distinguishes Mt. San Jacinto Community College District Decision February 2008

California Supreme Court Holds ‘Quick Take’ Valuation Date and Waiver Provisions Constitutional April 2007

Second District Court Sets the Date of Deposit as Key in Property Valuation in Eminent Domain “Quick Take” Action April 2005

New York Supreme Court Holds that Riparian Owners Enjoy Access to Navigable Waters even if that Right Exceeds the Rights Granted by the Regulating Municipality August 2006

North Carolina Court of Appeals Recognizes Continuing Violation in Assessing Penalties for Hog Farm December 2003

California Supreme Court Finds Circumstances of Federal Land Grant Failed to Support Claim of an Easement by Necessity July 2009

First District Court Finds Easement by Necessity Was Extinguished when Federal Government Refrained from Invoking Eminent Domain to Secure Right-of-Way January 2008

Consistent Equals Compatible: First District Court Upholds Travis Air Force Base Land Use Compatibility Plan August 2008

Supreme Court Holds Adoption of Airport Land Use Plan Freezing Land Use Restrictions Qualifies for ‘Common Sense’ Exemption from CEQA August 2007

First District Court Finds an Airport Land Use Plan Is a Project Subject to CEQA. February 2005