566 results for 'cat:"Environment"'.
J. Dever grants partial summary judgment to the daughter of a deceased military colonel who qualifies as the colonel’s legal representative under the Camp Lejeune Justice Act. The federal government fails to sufficiently claim that there is a genuine triable issue about whether the daughter qualifies as a legal representative, and, thereby, has the right to sue under the Act.
Court: USDC Eastern District of North Carolina, Judge: Dever, Filed On: February 27, 2024, Case #: 7:23cv897, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: environment, Government, Tort
J. Hummel grants an environmental advocacy group’s motion for joinder, allowing it to also sue an executive for a recycling services company in its Clean Water Act complaint alleging unlawful discharge of industrial stormwater runoff at an industrial park. The court finds the executive a responsible corporate officer tasked with complying with the company’s general permit. The court further grants the advocacy group’s motion to amend so it can add details about the general permit as well as the executive’s alleged involvement.
Court: USDC Northern District of New York, Judge: Hummel, Filed On: February 26, 2024, Case #: 1:20cv1025, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: Civil Procedure, environment
J. Baker finds that the district court improperly revoked a permit to build and operate a copper mine next to a tributary of the Smith River. The Department of Environmental Quality satisfied both the Metal Mining Reclamation Act and the Environmental Policy act in approving the mine operator's proposed cemented tailings facility. The department also conducted a rational evaluation of the impact of nitrogen discharges into the tributary. Reversed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: Baker, Filed On: February 26, 2024, Case #: DA 22-0406, Categories: Administrative Law, environment, Property
J. Thacker upheld the lower court’s decision to remand Annapolis and Anne Arundel County’s state-law tort and consumer protection lawsuits against many energy companies, which allegedly misrepresented or concealed information about their fossil fuel products. In at least 10 similar cases, energy firms have tried to remove the dispute to federal court: “The eleventh time is not the charm.”
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Thacker, Filed On: February 26, 2024, Case #: 22-1999, Categories: Energy, environment, Consumer Law
J. Sargus grants the mineral rights owner's motion for a preliminary injunction, ruling its offer of $100,000 to the surface rights owner and plan to drill horizontally into neighboring properties gives the surface owner due regard for its intended use of the land as a deer hunting reserve. Therefore, the $100,000 will be paid and the mineral rights owner will be allowed to begin development of the proposed wells.
Court: USDC Southern District of Ohio, Judge: Sargus, Filed On: February 23, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv4232, NOS: All Other Real Property - Real Property, Categories: environment, Property, Injunction
Want access to unlimited case records and advanced research tools? Create your free CasePortal account now. No credit card required to register.
Try CasePortal for Free
J. Henderson finds a lower court properly dismissed a climate activist's challenge to three roadway improvement plans. The climate activist argued that the proposed development would discharge greenhouse gas emissions into the environment. However, the secretary of transport sufficiently showed in court that the roadway plans do not breach environmental impact assessments. Affirmed.
Court: Her Majesty's Court of Appeal, Judge: Henderson, Filed On: February 22, 2024, Case #: CA-2023-1482, Categories: Construction, environment
J. Nye denies in part the government's motion to dismiss environmental groups' claims that a logging project intended to "increase the resilience of the forests in the project area to insects, diseases, drought, and the undesirable effects from wildfires" violates the National Environmental Policy Act. Portions of the previous objection potentially raise similar enough arguments regarding the groups' claim involving the project’s threat to old-growth bird habitats to put the government on notice of the claim. The groups' claim that the government failed "to analyze or disclose whether the Project trends towards the forest plan’s desired conditions" continues.
Court: USDC Idaho, Judge: Nye, Filed On: February 22, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv290, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: environment
J. Gleason denies oil and gas lease holders' motion to alter the judgment and motion to vacate the court's order dismissing their claims with prejudice. The lease holders asserted that the government's moratorium on activities related to the oil and gas leases in order to conduct supplemental environmental review caused loss of revenue and employment opportunities that would have come from development of the leases. The moratorium temporarily prevented the lease holders from developing its leases, and the leases were not “cancelled, rescinded, nullified, or otherwise undone.”
Court: USDC Alaska, Judge: Gleason, Filed On: February 22, 2024, Case #: 3:21cv245, NOS: Administrative Procedure Act/Review or Appeal of Agency Decision - Other Suits, Categories: Administrative Law, environment
J. Dietz finds that the power companies' motion to exclude an expert witness for the U.S. should be denied in claims seeking damages after the U.S. refused to accept and dispose of spent nuclear fuel because the expert report was relevant and admissible.
Court: Court of Federal Claims, Judge: Dietz, Filed On: February 21, 2024, Case #: 21-1116, Categories: environment, Experts
J. Dato finds the trial court improperly denied an award for attorney fees in this contract dispute against a county council. The property owner alleges she was fraudulently enrolled in a Property Assessed Clean Energy program. This case is remanded for the t rialcourt to find if there is a “party prevailing on the contract,” and for further proceedings. Reversed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Dato, Filed On: February 20, 2024, Case #: D080978, Categories: environment, Property, Attorney Fees
J. Coughenour grants partial summary judgment to the tribe for its complaint that the electric utility company and others illegally took endangered fish as part of their electron hydroelectric project on the Puyallup River. The electric utility company's rock dam is an unpermitted take because it accelerates water which attracts upstream migrating endangered fish to the structure and away from the purpose-built fish ladder. The electric utility company and others are to apply for the necessary permits within 10 days of this order, and they are to remove a sufficient portion of the rock dam during the summer of 2024 in-water work season for the volitional upstream fish passage by Sep. 15, 2024.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Coughenour, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 2:20cv1864, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: environment, Water
J. Calabretta denies, in part, California Air Resources Board officials’ motion to dismiss two railroad associations’ challenges to new locomotive regulations. The associations have sufficiently pleaded their claims related to idling requirements, reporting and recordkeeping requirements, and an administrative payment provision.
Court: USDC Eastern District of California, Judge: Calabretta, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1154, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Administrative Law, environment, Transportation
J. O’Rourke finds that the trial court improperly denied the property developer’s request for a writ of mandate requesting the county board of supervisors’ decision granting the administrative appeals, requiring the preparation of an Environmental Impact Report directing them to affirm the zoning administrator’s guidelines. The trial court found the staff agreed that the project qualified for an exemption under the guidelines, stating it was “inconsistent with the existing record.” This court directs the trial court to grant the petition and issue a peremptory writ of mandate. The county must set aside its decision requiring the preparation of an EIR, and the property developers shall recover its costs for this appeal. Reversed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: O’Rourke, Filed On: February 16, 2024, Case #: D081124, Categories: environment, Government, Property
J. Moss finds for the environmentalist groups on several of their Endangered Species Act claims arising out of their challenge to the EPA’s approval of the state of Florida’s application to assume permitting power under the Clean Water Act within the state. The EPA unreasonably relied on the Fish and Wildlife Service's flawed biological opinion and incidental take statement.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Moss, Filed On: February 15, 2024, Case #: 1:21cv119, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: environment
J. Jones grants the consent decree between the nonprofit organization and the city regarding the former's complaint that the latter violated multiple provisions of its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit. Among other stipulations, the city agrees to collect industrial stormwater samples, depending on weather patterns.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Jones, Filed On: February 15, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv756, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: environment, Settlements, Water
Per curiam, the appellate division finds that the lower court properly granted the oil company's motion to enforce the stipulation of settlement made in open court by counsel on behalf of their clients in a suit to recover damages sustained as a result of oil contamination to real property. The property owners failed to establish that their attorney did not have the authority to enter into the settlement on their behalf. Affirmed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: February 14, 2024, Case #: 00760, Categories: environment, Settlements, Tort
[Consolidated.] Per curiam, the court of appeals finds the trial court properly granted summary judgment and rendered a final judgment in favor of the state against the environmental groups. The 2015-2016 challenged appropriations had already been disbursed by being spent, contractually obligation or reverted to Florida’s Land Acquisition Trust Fund. Since those appropriations were completed within the fiscal year, the active complaint claims were moot. Affirmed.
Court: Florida Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: February 14, 2024, Case #: 1D2022-3142, Categories: environment, Government
J. Morris denies an environmental group's request for a preliminary injunction against the owners of a ski resort and golf course over claims that the owners discharge nitrogen pollution into the Gallatin River. The court has already ruled against the environmental group on the grounds that their claims are barred by a prior consent order, and their request for an injunction is equally barred. Any attempts to make future similar motions, without any new facts to support them, will be "construed unfavorably."
Court: USDC Montana, Judge: Morris, Filed On: February 13, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv28, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: environment
J. Glasgow finds that the lower court properly ruled in favor of King County in a dispute with a company that was fined $100 for improperly disposing of its waste at a non-designated facility. The company says the code is unlawful and restricts on its right to freely dispose of its property. The code, however, is a reasonable extension of the county's right to regulate its sanitation, a right granted to local governments in Washington by their state constitution. Affirmed.
Court: Washington Court Of Appeals, Judge: Glasgow, Filed On: February 13, 2024, Case #: 57452-7-II, Categories: environment, Municipal Law
Upon remand from the Supreme Court, J. Walker again upholds the district court's dismissal of landowners' challenge to the grant of a certificate to build 300 miles of pipeline from West Virginia to southern Virginia. The district court lacked jurisdiction, as the federal court of appeals had previously ruled on a petition challenging issuance of the certificate. Affirmed.
Court: DC Circuit, Judge: Walker, Filed On: February 13, 2024, Case #: 20-5203 , Categories: Energy, environment, Jurisdiction
J. Howell denies, in part, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's motion for summary judgment on a nonprofit's Freedom of Information Act case seeking certain FERC commissioners' calendars and phone records. The name of a lobbyist who had lunch with a chairman on a certain date must be released, as the agency concedes it "'should definitely not have [been] withheld.'"
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Howell, Filed On: February 12, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv3420, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: Energy, environment, Public Record
J. Kleeh grants the regulatory agency's motion for summary judgment in the company's complaint alleging the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) denied its application for an incidental taking permit to harvest timber by keeping the application in "perpetual administrative limbo." Based on the administrative record as a whole, the company is largely to blame for the permit being in limbo since it stopped cooperating with FWS on developing a habitat conservation plan, which is the second part of the four phases required to receive permit approval.
Court: USDC Northern District of West Virginia, Judge: Kleeh, Filed On: February 12, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv7, NOS: Administrative Procedure Act/Review or Appeal of Agency Decision - Other Suits, Categories: Administrative Law, environment, Government
J. Newman grants the agricultural waste companies' motion for summary judgment, ruling the citizen suit under the Clean Air Act is barred by the diligent prosecution doctrine. The EPA has taken reasonable steps to ensure the companies' compliance with air quality standards, including shutting down portions of their plant through enforcement of a consent decree that contains civil fines for noncompliance.
Court: USDC Southern District of Ohio, Judge: Newman, Filed On: February 12, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv102, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: Civil Procedure, environment, Government
J. Joseph denies a request by the corporate operator of a community water system and its insurer to stay a potential class action by customers who allege they are being harmed by the company's failure to adhere to drinking water laws and regulations. Specifically, the ruling rejects the corporation's petition to refer the environmental suit's claims to the Louisiana Department of Health for the regulatory agency's opinion regarding whether the water the supplier provides is fit for human consumption. The argument that this case involves complex factual and scientific questions that are outside the court's conventional experience is unpersuasive.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Joseph, Filed On: February 9, 2024, Case #: 6:23cv401, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: environment, Health Care, Experts