Judge temporarily blocks rules for fracking on federal lands

A federal judge in Wyoming has temporarily stayed new federal rules governing hydraulic fracturing on public lands. U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl of Casper stayed the rules to allow the U.S. Bureau of Land Management time to provide more information about how it developed the standards, report Reuters, the Casper…

Jun 24, 2015 1:57 PM CDT

Bad news for the EPA: Scalia is likely opinion author in toxic emissions case

President Obama’s environmental agenda is likely to suffer a blow when the U.S. Supreme Court issues an opinion in a legal challenge to regulation of toxic air pollution from coal-fired power plants, some court watchers say. The likely author of the opinion is Justice Antonin Scalia, who appeared to sympathize…

Jun 23, 2015 1:02 PM CDT

Christo’s public art installation continues to be ensnared in the courts

Jun 1, 2015 4:40 AM CDT

Dairies settle landmark cow-manure case after federal judge rules solid-waste law applies

For decades after Congress enacted the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, dairy farmers didn’t think it applied to them. That changed early this year, when a federal judge in Washington state ruled in a lawsuit that RCRA did apply to dairies. Hence, said U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice, the statute…

May 11, 2015 3:25 PM CDT

New Wyoming law turns environmental activists into criminals, law prof says

A new Wyoming law that makes it a crime to collect “resource data” from open land is so broad that it could criminalize taking a picture of a geyser on public land, according to a University of Denver law professor. The law bars the collection of environmental data from open…

May 11, 2015 2:14 PM CDT

Does a country have a legal duty to reduce its carbon footprint? Dutch court to decide landmark case

Concerned that the Netherlands isn’t doing enough to reduce its carbon footprint, a group of nearly 900 citizens filed a highly unusual lawsuit against the Dutch government in 2013. Asserting violations of human rights and tort law, the class action (PDF) seeks a court ruling requiring the government to cut…

May 4, 2015 10:50 AM CDT

All charges dropped against man accused in massive Yosemite forest fire, due to deaths of witnesses

Federal prosecutors have dropped all charges against a bow hunter accused of causing a massive forest fire in 2013, due to the deaths of two key witnesses. Keith Matthew Emerald, 32, had faced charges of starting a fire and lying to a government agency concerning the Rim fire that burned…

May 1, 2015 3:30 PM CDT

Beset by drought, California lawmakers fast-track bill to ban towns from enforcing brown-lawn rules

Faced with a record-breaking drought, California has imposed stringent water-conservation measures. But that hasn’t stopped some government officials from threatening to fine homeowners over lawns that have gone brown from lack of water, reports the Los Angeles Times (sub. req.). Proposed state legislation to address the issue appears to be…

Apr 24, 2015 4:20 PM CDT

Earth Day ‘Reflections’ from 1972 ABA Journal archives

On this Earth Day, we bring to you a poem from our archives. The poem is in response to a dissent by Justice William O. Douglas in the seminal environmental standing case Sierra Club v. Morton. It was published in the August, 1972, American Bar Association Journal, and was penned…

Apr 22, 2015 12:22 PM CDT

Polluted town championed by Erin Brockovich is largely gone despite $333M settlement

Fifteen years after a movie helped make legal assistant Erin Brockovich famous for her role in helping win a $333 million settlement over environmental pollution in Hinkley, California, the small farming community town is largely gone. Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which agreed to the settlement concerning elevated levels of…

Apr 14, 2015 11:10 AM CDT

Laurence Tribe’s legal work for coal company has environmentalists fuming

Harvard constitutional law professor Laurence Tribe is known for his support of liberal causes, but he’s infuriating environmentalists and liberals for his attack on proposed greenhouse gas standards designed to fight climate change. Tribe represents coal company Peabody Energy Corp. in a fight against an Environmental Protection Agency regulation that…

Apr 8, 2015 6:15 AM CDT

Appeals court ruling reviving $40M courthouse-renovation asbestos suit will go to state’s top court

Survivors of a woman who worked for 27 years at a Missouri courthouse before dying of mesothelioma settled her case against U.S. Engineering several years ago for a record $10.4 million. But a related class-action is still ongoing. It seeks a $40 million medical monitoring for other former employees and…

Apr 6, 2015 3:05 PM CDT

Human rights should be a priority in oil, gas and mining industries, say speakers at ABA Midyear

At a time when access to oil and gas is a primary concern throughout the world economy, there is a growing push to make sure that human rights are not sacrificed at the altar of commerce. Speakers at a program held this afternoon as the 2015 ABA Midyear Meeting got…

Feb 6, 2015 9:10 AM CST

Author tells tangled tale of the $19B verdict against Chevron in ‘Law of the Jungle’ (podcast)

In 2011, an Ecuadoran court found the Chevron Corporation liable for environmental damage caused by oil drilling in the 1970s-80s. Chevron was ordered to pay $19 billion to the plaintiffs who brought the suit, a collection of small farmers and indigenous peoples. Although it is tempting to fit this into a simple narrative-either "victory for oppressed people against an evil corporation" or "responsible corporation preyed upon by voracious plaintiffs attorneys"--the truth just isn't that simple.

Jan 28, 2015 9:15 AM CST

Judge tosses ‘inventive’ suit seeking EPA phone records from NSA, threatens footnote limits

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has tossed a suit asking the National Security Agency to provide records of phone calls, emails, and text messages for two officials of the Environmental Protection Agency. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg termed the suit “novel and inventive” in the opening paragraph of his…

Jan 14, 2015 6:15 AM CST