EnvironmentalRSS

  • February 16, 2010

    Texas Fights EPA's 'Outsourced' GHG Finding

    Texas state officials have partnered up with a coalition of global warming skeptics in launching a legal challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's finding that greenhouse gases pose a threat to human health, arguing that the agency relied on “fundamentally flawed and legally unsupported methodology” in reaching its decision.

  • February 16, 2010

    Boston Sewer Commission Violated CWA: Enviro Group

    A nonprofit environmental group has accused the Boston Water and Sewer Commission of letting stormwater runoff pollute the city's lakes and rivers in violation of the Clean Water Act.

  • February 16, 2010

    US Targets Tesoro Over Gasoline Tests

    Tesoro Corp. and two of its subsidiaries have been hit with a Clean Air Act lawsuit alleging that they improperly tested their gasoline for aromatics, olefins and other properties at refineries spread throughout the Western United States.

  • February 12, 2010

    2nd Circ. Stays Order Barring Bayer Pesticide

    A federal appeals court has granted Bayer CropScience LP a reprieve in its battle to keep its pesticide spirotetramat on the market, temporarily staying a lower court's order vacating the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's registration of the chemical.

  • February 12, 2010

    SoCal Edison Pays $2.8M To Settle Wildfire Claims

    Southern California Edison Co. has paid $2.8 million to settle claims that its power transmission line started the 2002 Birch Forest Fire, which destroyed more than 2,600 acres of the Inyo National Forest.

  • February 12, 2010

    Jackson Walker Adds 2 Attys From Lemle & Kelleher

    Jackson Walker LLP has expanded its litigation practice, snagging two partners from Lemle & Kelleher LLP for its Houston office.

  • February 12, 2010

    Wis. Utility Joins CAA Suit Amid Settlement Talks

    Wisconsin Public Service Corp. has won its bid to intervene as a defendant in the Sierra Club's suit calling for a government ruling on a challenge to a Clean Air Act permit held by the utility, while a federal judge has agreed to stay the case as the parties work toward a resolution.

  • February 12, 2010

    Ill. Village Seeks To End Gulf Oil MTBE Claims

    The village of Roanoke, Ill., has asked to drop claims against Gulf Oil Ltd. Partnership in a case that has been consolidated in multidistrict litigation alleging several oil companies contaminated groundwater with the gasoline additive methyl tertiary-butyl ether.

  • February 12, 2010

    CBD Accuses US Of Withholding Uranium Mine Info

    The Center for Biological Diversity has accused the U.S. Bureau of Land Management of illegally refusing to provide records related to uranium mines on public land near the Grand Canyon, the latest suit in the environmental group's ongoing dispute with the federal government over Arizona mines.

  • February 11, 2010

    10th Circ. Grounds Plane De-Icing Suit

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has affirmed the dismissal of a suit brought by current and former airline employees claiming full plane de-icing at the city's airport is harmful to human health and to the environment.

  • February 11, 2010

    Feds Fight ESA, NEPA Claims In 3-State Water Wars

    The federal government has fired off a bid to snuff out the second phase of an epic water rights battle involving Alabama, Georgia and Florida, saying it has done the “hard work” required by federal law to protect imperiled species in the states' waters.

  • February 11, 2010

    Enviros' Claims Shaved In Oil, Gas Lease Dispute

    The federal judge overseeing nine citizens groups' challenge to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's approval of three quarterly oil and gas lease sales has tossed two environmental law violation claims, but allowed other allegations over the sales to proceed.

  • February 11, 2010

    Mich. Appeals Court Nixes Bid To Force CO2 Rules

    Citizens for Environmental Inquiry has lost its bid to require Michigan authorities to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, with a state appeals court affirming a lower court’s ruling that the group lacks standing to pursue the claim.

  • February 11, 2010

    EU Calls For Trade Ban On Endangered Tuna, Bears

    The European Parliament expressed support on Wednesday for a ban on the trade in endangered species including bluefin tuna and polar bears, as well as all products derived from the creatures.

  • February 10, 2010

    Developer Off Hook For Lead Payments At $47M Site

    A federal appeals court has upheld a judgment for Mermart LLC in a suit brought by investors in its $47.3 million redevelopment project alleging breach of contract for failing to disclose payment deductions in connection with lead paint contamination of the site.

  • February 10, 2010

    US Fights Rohm & Haas Bid To Kill Superfund Suit

    The federal government has fired back at a bid by Rohm and Haas Co. to kill a suit over a New Jersey Superfund site, saying a recent change in appellate case law should toll the statute of limitations to allow the U.S. to recover past cleanup costs.

  • February 10, 2010

    Downey Lures 2 From Paul Hastings For Frisco Office

    Two environmental partners who say they are tired of the BigLaw way of doing business have made the jump from Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker LLP to Downey Brand LLP, where they will co-chair the firm’s new San Francisco office.

  • February 10, 2010

    Ecuador Combats Chevron Arbitration Bid

    The government of Ecuador wants to halt Chevron Corp.’s international arbitration proceeding while a U.S. district court decides if the oil giant is entitled to sidestep a $27 billion Ecuadorean suit against it for vast pollution in the Amazon.

  • February 10, 2010

    Republican Legislators Take GHG Finding To DC Circ.

    Thirteen Republican lawmakers and 17 companies have petitioned a federal appeals court to review the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recent endangerment finding on greenhouse gases, calling the decision a “power grab” by the agency.

  • February 10, 2010

    Cooley Godward Adds Alston Bird Clean Energy Attys

    Two former Alston & Bird LLP partners have joined Cooley Godward Kronish LLP’s clean energy and technologies practice in Washington, where they will focus on project development in the renewable energy sector.