Environmental Law

High Court Takes Up Environmental Dispute Involving Permit Authority

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an environmental challenge to a gold mining company’s plan to dump waste in a lake in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. At issue is whether the Army Corps of Engineers has the authority to issue a permit for the dumping if the action…

Jun 27, 2008 4:51 PM CDT

Supreme Court Accepts Whale Sonar Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has accepted a case that considers the Navy’s use of sonar in training exercises, opposed by environmental groups who contend it harms endangered whales. Solicitor General Paul Clement had argued a federal appeals court ruling in the case “poses substantial harm to national security,” SCOTUSblog reports.…

Jun 23, 2008 2:23 PM CDT

Md. Judge Fined $10K, Gets Probation in Shoreline Dumping Case

A longtime Maryland judge accused of illegally dumping unauthorized materials along the shoreline of his waterfront home, in an apparent effort to build up a storm-damaged beachfront, has entered into a plea deal. “District Judge Askew W. Gatewood Jr. pleaded not guilty to one count of unlawfully filling state wetlands…

Jun 3, 2008 4:47 PM CDT

WiFi-Sensitive Individuals Claim ADA Violation

The city attorney in Santa Fe, N.M., is investigating claims that wireless Internet signals are a violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act because they can cause an allergic reaction. Arthur Firstenberg says he is highly sensitive to wireless signals and he experiences chest pain from WiFi, KOB-TV reports. His…

May 27, 2008 11:58 AM CDT

Nuclear Proliferation Foe Joseph Egan Dies

Nuclear engineer-turned-lawyer Joseph R. Egan, the man who led Nevada’s legal campaign to block a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, died of gastroesophageal cancer May 7. He was 53. An obituary posted on his firm’s website notes that before his death, Egan arranged for his ashes to be spread…

May 16, 2008 12:58 PM CDT

Wolverine Loses But Polar Bear Wins in Endangered Species Rulings

Updated: An unexpected February sighting of a wild wolverine in California, where the animal was thought to be extinct, has sparked a renewed, but unsuccessful, call for protection under the Endangered Species Act. But, due to shrinking habitat caused by global warming, the polar bear won such protection today under…

May 14, 2008 4:00 PM CDT

9th Circuit Stays Execution of 85 Sea Lions, Siding Against Salmon

Updated: Their only crime was eating salmon. So execution, at least for now, is too harsh a punishment for up to 85 sea lions scheduled for extermination this year, in an effort to protect the diminishing Chinook salmon run in the Pacific Northwest. That’s what the San Francisco-based 9th U.S.…

Apr 24, 2008 3:57 PM CDT

Ex-EPA Chief Not Liable for Clean Air Assurances After 9/11

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled today that former EPA head Christine Todd Whitman cannot be held liable for saying that the air near the collapsed World Trade Center site was safe to breathe after the 9/11 attacks. Whitman made the reassuring remarks after getting conflicting information…

Apr 22, 2008 4:02 PM CDT

Garlic Co. to Pay $60K for Creating Toxic ‘Swamp Gas’

Just in time for Earth Day 2008, a Gilroy, Calif.-based garlic-processing company has agreed to settle a lawsuit brought after the company let chunks of garlic spill into a nearby creek. The garlic spill created a “swamp gas” that killed thousands of fish, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Christopher Ranch,…

Apr 22, 2008 11:29 AM CDT

R.I. Court to Webcast Key Lead Paint Arguments

In a first for Rhode Island, the state’s highest court will webcast hearings on the closely watched lead-paint case against three major manufacturers. While the state’s high court doesn’t typically televise its hearings, the court plans to place two cameras in the court so that anyone with Internet access can…

Apr 22, 2008 10:50 AM CDT

Supreme Court to Decide EPA Authority to Weigh Costs of Regs

Updated: The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether the Environmental Protection Agency may weigh costs and benefits when deciding how power plants should retrofit water intake systems to protect fish. The cert petitions by Entergy Corp. and other utilities ask the court to reverse a federal appeals court…

Apr 14, 2008 3:02 PM CDT

Grace Sets $3B Aside to Settle Asbestos Suits

After years of posturing, a bankruptcy and recently heated negotiation, W.R. Grace & Co. has announced it will settle all 112,000 lawsuits filed on behalf of individuals sickened or killed because of exposure to asbestos in the company’s vermiculite mine in Libby, Mont. Grace plans to create an irrevocable trust…

Apr 8, 2008 6:16 PM CDT

States’ Suit Seeks to Force EPA Action on Greenhouse Gases

Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have sued the Environmental Protection Agency in an effort to force regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. The lawsuit contends the administration has not complied with a year-old U.S. Supreme Court decision, Massachusetts v. EPA, the Environment News Service says. The decision held the…

Apr 3, 2008 11:51 AM CDT

Trashy Tribulations

Eco-Friendly Citizen Sees Red as Efforts to Go Green Result in Municipal Machinations for Money

Apr 1, 2008 3:31 PM CDT

N.J. Justices Dissent in River Case; Scalia Offers ‘Snide Dish’ of Tofu, Bean Sprouts

The U.S. Supreme Court’s two New Jersey-born justices dissented in a ruling yesterday that favored rival Delaware in a dispute over the building of a liquefied natural gas processing plant. At issue were the states’ rights under a 1905 agreement that allowed each state to exercise “riparian jurisdiction” on its…

Apr 1, 2008 12:50 PM CDT