RSS Feed
Author Archive
Top Bush Lawyers Will Face Off in Supreme Court Over Mont. Riverbed Case
Posted by Greenwire: Lawrence Hurley on September 26th, 2011
Greenwire: When the Supreme Court hears arguments in an upcoming case on riverbed ownership in Montana, the two advocates opposing each other will both be former solicitors general who served in the George W. Bush administration.
Paul Clement, who served as solicitor general from 2005 to 2008, is representing power company PPL Montana, while Gregory Garre, who succeeded Clement as solicitor general in 2008, will line up on behalf of the state of Montana.
The two men know each other well, reflecting the...
Posted in 
Idaho Couple’s Permit Fight Drags Wetlands Back to Supreme Court
Posted by Greenwire: Lawrence Hurley on September 19th, 2011
Greenwire: Sitting unobtrusively across the road from a pristine lake in the northern Idaho panhandle, the half-acre lot covered with weeds and piles of gravel isn't much to look at. And yet, in a few months' time, the nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court will decide its fate. For four years the land has sat idle while its owners, Mike and Chantell Sackett, have been locked in a fight with U.S. EPA. What started as a routine disagreement about whether the Sacketts needed a Clean Water Act permit to build...
Va. Court Rules That Insurance Doesn’t Cover Global Warming Claims
Posted by Greenwire: Lawrence Hurley on September 16th, 2011
Greenwire: A state appeals court ruled today in the first case of its type that an insurance company does not have to foot the bill for a company facing damages over climate change.
The Virginia Supreme Court ruled in the closely watched case that Steadfast Insurance does not have a duty to defend AES Corp., a utility which is a defendant in a major climate case, Kivalina v. Exxon Mobil Corp., et al., which is currently before the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Litigation over...
Appeals Court’s Ruling on Stormwater Runoff Provokes Political Backlash
Posted by Greenwire: Lawrence Hurley on July 27th, 2011
GreenWire: A federal appeals court ruling that would require Clean Water Act permitting for stormwater runoff on logging roads has sparked a political backlash, leading to congressional action and possible Supreme Court intervention. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling applies to the nine Western states within the court's jurisdiction, including the Pacific Northwest, which has a significant logging industry. A three-judge panel ruled last summer in Northwest Environmental Defense...
Dropped Charges in Ecuador Could Affect Chevron Racketeering Case
Posted by Greenwire: Lawrence Hurley on June 3rd, 2011
Greenwire: An Ecuadorean court's decision to dismiss criminal charges in a case concerning oil pollution liability could affect high-stakes litigation in New York over whether Chevron Corp. should have to pay up to $18 billion in damages.
The criminal case in Ecuador focused on whether fraud tainted an agreement between the government and Texaco Petroleum Corp. over oil remediation and the oil company's future liability.
Chevron acquired Texaco in 2001 and has since been battling in court against indigenous...
Natural Gas Fracking Lawsuit Raises NEPA Questions
Posted by Greenwire: Lawrence Hurley on June 1st, 2011
Greenwire: When New York's attorney general filed suit yesterday in an effort to require an environmental review before the Delaware River Basin Commission approves regulations for natural gas extraction, one entity was notably absent from the list of defendants: the commission itself.
There is a reason for that, which illustrates why the lawsuit is viewed as somewhat novel in legal circles.
The complaint filed by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) is an attempt to require a full environmental review...
Supreme Court Appears to Favor Government in Indian Trust Fund Case
Posted by Greenwire: Lawrence Hurley on April 20th, 2011
GreenWire: An American Indian tribe's efforts to win access to legal documents relating to the federal government's management of a tribal trust fund received a cool reception at the Supreme Court today.
In a case that could affect other disputes over Indian trust fund management, a majority of justices appeared to favor the Interior Department, which has cited attorney-client privilege as its reason for withholding certain documents.
The Jicarilla Apache Nation filed suit in 2002 claiming that assets...
Obama Plan to Cap Funding for Endangered Species Act Petitions Angers Litigants
Posted by Greenwire: Lawrence Hurley on March 24th, 2011
Greenwire: A Fish and Wildlife Service proposal that would give the agency more leeway to delay considering new endangered species petitions is getting a chilly reception from environmentalists and others involved in litigation on the issue.
Under the plan discussed in a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing last week, the service has asked Congress to cap funding for the processing of new Endangered Species Act petitions (E&E Daily, March 17).
Such a move would have legal significance because the...
Supreme Court Decides Against Intervening in ‘Critical Habitat’ Designations
Posted by Greenwire: Lawrence Hurley on February 22nd, 2011
Greenwire: The Supreme Court declined today to take up whether federal regulators and courts take account sufficiently of the economic impacts of "critical habitat" designations under the Endangered Species Act.
It is a touchy issue because private property owners, including developers and ranchers, have objected to critical habitat designations that infringe on their ability to do business.
The Endangered Species Act specifically states that the Fish and Wildlife Service must designate critical habitats...
Supreme Court Stays Out of Okla. Water Fight
Posted by Greenwire: Lawrence Hurley on January 24th, 2011
Greenwire: The Supreme Court today declined to take up a dispute between six water districts and the state of Oklahoma.
The water districts had challenged whether they should have to pay the state to use water drawn from the Grand River. The failure of the court to intervene means that the legal battle the water districts have fought since 2007 is now over.
Although the state Grand River Dam Authority, formed in 1935, claims title over the river, the water districts argued that they take water from a...