ENVIRONMENTAL CASES
U.S. 11th Circuit, May 09, 2008
Sierra Club v. Flowers, No. 07-13297
In an action challenging a grant of certain "Clean Water Act" ("CWA") mining permits by the Army Corps of Engineers in Florida, summary judgment for plaintiffs is vacated and remanded where the district court: 1) appeared to have predetermined the answer to the ultimate issue based on its own conclusions that mining in the area at issue was a bad thing; 2) analyzed the permitting process with that answer in mind regardless of what the agency concluded and what evidence supported the agency's conclusion; and 3) therefore applied the improper standard of review under the Administrative Procedure Act.
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U.S. 3rd Circuit, May 13, 2008
Beazer E., Inc. v. Mead Corp., No. 06-4993
In an on-going contribution claim against defendant under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), wherein the district court denied defendant's motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim and certified the question of whether certain caselaw precedent limited subject-matter jurisdiction over plaintiff's contribution claims under section 113(f)(1), the circuit court finds that: 1) the "civil action" requirement in section 113(f) is an element of the claim, and is not jurisdictional; 2) the district court retained its original jurisdiction to adjudicate the issues in this case; and 3) defendant waived its challenge to the applicability of section 113(f)(1).
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U.S. 9th Circuit, May 14, 2008
Ctr. for Biological Diversity v. Rey, No. 07-16892
In a suit challenging a decision by the United States Forest Service to permit logging in accordance with certain changes made in 2004 by the USFS in the relevant forest, denial of a preliminary injunction against the USFS is reversed and three projects preliminarily enjoined where the district court abused its discretion in: 1) concluding that the USFS complied with NEPA's requirement to "[r]igorously explore and objectively evaluate all reasonable alternatives" with regard to a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS); and 2) in its balancing of equities.
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