ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CASES

• Friends of Pinto Creek v. US Envtl. Prot. Agency
• San Juan County v. US
• McElmurray v. The Consol. Gov't of Augusta-Richmond County
• Nat'l Parks & Conservation Ass'n, Inc. v. TVA
• Tuolumne County Citizens for Responsible Growth, Inc. v. City of Sonora

U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, October 04, 2007
Friends of Pinto Creek v. US Envtl. Prot. Agency, No. 05-70785
Petition for review of the EPA's issuance of a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit to a copper mining company, allowing mining-related discharges of copper into an Arizona waterbody already in excess of water quality standards for copper, is granted as the issuance of the NPDES permit was based on errors of law under the Clean Water Act, 40 C.F.R. section 122.4(i), and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Read more...

U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, October 02, 2007
San Juan County v. US, No. 04-4260
In an appeal arising after certain conservation groups sought to intervene in a federal quiet title action brought by a Utah county against the government involving a road in a national park, denial of the groups' applications for intervention is affirmed as: 1) applicants for intervention need not establish standing; 2) sovereign immunity does not bar the groups' intervention; 3) despite satisfying the other requirements for intervention under Fed. R. Civ. P. 24(a), the groups were not entitled to intervene as of right because they failed to overcome the presumption that their interest was adequately represented by the Federal defendants; and 4) denial of their application for permissive intervention under Fed. R. Civ. P. 24(b) was proper as well. Read more...

U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, October 01, 2007
McElmurray v. The Consol. Gov't of Augusta-Richmond County, No. 06-16493
In a suit under the False Claims Act alleging that a Georgia county violated the FCA by knowingly misrepresenting its compliance with state and local environmental laws in order to obtain Government loans for wastewater treatment facilities providing sewage sludge as fertilizer for plaintiffs' agricultural fields, dismissal of the suit is affirmed where: 1) the district court did not err in its sua sponte conversion of defendant's motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim into a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, and since it treated the motion as a "facial" challenge to the court's jurisdiction, rather than a "factual" challenge, no discovery was needed; and 2) because allegations of fraud on the loans sought from the Government were based upon public documents and disclosures, the district court did not err in holding that plaintiffs were not the original source of the information supporting their claim under the FCA. Read more...

U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, October 04, 2007
Nat'l Parks & Conservation Ass'n, Inc. v. TVA, No. 06-10729
Dismissal of action against defendant brought under the citizen suit provision of the Clean Air Act is affirmed over claims that: 1) the district court improperly dismissed defendant's claims for injunctive and declaratory relief; 2) plaintiffs were not obligated to provide notice of intent to sue; 3) plaintiffs' letter complied with the notice requirement because it provided "sufficient information to permit the recipient to identify" the nature of their New Source Performance Standards claim; and 4) the district court erred in denying plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of whether a certain project was a "major modification" triggering the requirements of New Source Review and the New Source Performance Standards. Read more...

California Appellate Districts, October 02, 2007
Tuolumne County Citizens for Responsible Growth, Inc. v. City of Sonora, No. F051508
In case involving a proposal to construct a home improvement center, denial of petition for writ of mandate challenging approval of the project and adoption of a mitigated negative declaration by alleging violations of the CEQA is reversed where the construction of the home improvement center and the realignment of the road should have been analyzed in the same initial environmental study. Read more...