Environmental Law

Federal Laws Multiply: Jail Time for Misappropriating Smokey Bear Image?

Federal criminal statutes have multiplied to such an extent that it has become increasingly difficult to count them. As a result of the increase, federal prisons now house more than 200,000 inmates, eight times the number 30 years ago, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. And more people are…

Jul 25, 2011 1:50 PM CDT

California Supremes Uphold Plastic Bag Ban in Manhattan Beach

The California Supreme Court has upheld a ban on plastic bags in Manhattan Beach, ruling a full-scale environmental review isn’t needed. The industry group Save the Plastic Bag Coalition had argued that shifting to paper bags would cause even more damage to the environment, report the San Francisco Chronicle and…

Jul 15, 2011 12:52 PM CDT

New Secondhand-Smoke Frontier Focuses on Shared Residential Buildings

Smoking has been banned in a number of public places and worksites. But, although individuals also have a right to live smoke-free in their own homes, if they wish, there’s no comparable law prohibiting smoking in residential buildings, the New York Post reported. And that’s creating work for a number…

Jul 14, 2011 6:17 PM CDT

7 Drinker Biddle Lawyers Form New Environmental Firm, Brooman Buzzell & Garber

Headed by the former managing partner of the now-closed Berwyn, Pa., office of Drinker Biddle & Reath, seven attorneys from the law firm have formed a new environmental boutique. It will be known as Brooman Buzzell & Garber, reports the Legal Intelligencer in an article reprinted in New York Lawyer…

Jul 7, 2011 7:31 PM CDT

Supreme Court Bars Federal Nuisance Suit by Plaintiffs Seeking to Curb Global Warming

Corrected: The U.S. Supreme Court has barred a federal suit that seeks to fight global warming through the common law tort of public nuisance. The plaintiffs, including eight states and New York City, had sued four private power companies and the federal Tennessee Valley Authority in an effort to get…

Jun 20, 2011 4:58 PM CDT

Is Pee Problem in Portland Reservoir a Crime? DA Must Decide

After a man was caught on surveillance footage peeing into a reservoir in Portland, Ore., he told authorities he thought the uncovered expanse of water was a sewage treatment tank. Although the relatively tiny quantity of pee poses virtually no health hazard, officials decided to drain the reservoir, because of…

Jun 16, 2011 5:01 PM CDT

Court Gives Green Light to Stephen Baldwin Suit Against Kevin Costner Over Oil Spill Cleanup Machine

In happier days, actor Kevin Costner was winning acclaim for his reported efforts, with the help of a trial attorney, to develop a vaccum-cleaner-like machine to clean up oil spills threatening to do serious environmental damage. But news that BP was putting over $50 million into the project after the…

Jun 7, 2011 8:34 PM CDT

Arizona State’s Law School Breaks Ground with Sustainability Program

The unusually harsh winter and skyrocketing oil prices may have caused the public to be more concerned with climate change and sustainable energy policies, but the legal and regulatory issues connected with sustainability often go unmentioned. This year, Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law has launched a…

Jun 1, 2011 8:00 AM CDT

3rd Circuit Says Lawyers’ Involvement in ‘Crude’ Film Wasn’t a Subject-Matter Privilege Waiver

By allowing a filmmaker access to attorney-client meetings for his Crude documentary about a megabucks environmental case in Ecuador, lawyers for the plaintiffs did not create a subject-matter waiver for all privileged communications, a federal appeals court has ruled. Reversing a lower court decision that the attorneys involved would have…

May 27, 2011 12:01 AM CDT

2nd Cir OKs Temporary Ban on Plaintiffs’ Collection Efforts re $18B Enviro Judgment Against Chevron

Corrected: A federal appeals court yesterday upheld an unusual preliminary injunction preventing the plaintiffs who won an $18 billion judgment in an Ecuador environmental case against Chevron Corp. from taking action to collect from the defendant oil company, but eased restrictions imposed by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan that prevented…

May 12, 2011 10:12 PM CDT

New Climate Change Suits Take Unusual ‘Public Trust’ Approach

A series of climate change lawsuits being filed across the country rely on a novel approach—the public trust doctrine—but the litigation’s success could turn on pre-emption doctrine rather than tort law. The suit filed by a coalition group called Our Children’s Trust argues that key agencies have failed to protect…

May 5, 2011 3:57 PM CDT

Dissenting in Water Rights Case, Justice Scalia Renames the People of Wyoming

Justice Antonin Scalia was the lone dissenter when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled for Wyoming on Monday in a dispute over water rights. Scalia continued his contrary ways when he referred to Wyoming residents as “Wyomans,” the Odd Clauses Watch blog reports. Scalia inserted an asterisk next to the word…

May 4, 2011 10:30 AM CDT

Army Corps Blasts Hole in Levee to Save Ill., Ky. Towns, Water Level Drops, Flooded Mo. Farmers Sue

In an emergency effort to prevent floodwater from inundating towns in Illinois and Kentucky, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last night blasted a hole in a levee near Cairo, Ill., where the Mississippi and Ohio rivers meet. An Army Corps spokesman says the plan seems to be working, since…

May 3, 2011 9:14 PM CDT

Supreme Court Rules for Wyoming in Water Dispute Flowing from Better Irrigation

The U.S. Supreme Court has sided with Wyoming in a water dispute with Montana. The court ruled Wyoming did not violate a 1950 agreement governing water usage from the Tongue and Powder rivers, the Associated Press reports. Montana had claimed that because of better irrigation systems, Wyoming was reducing the…

May 2, 2011 3:05 PM CDT

Supreme Court Doesn’t Stop Levee Break that Would Flood Farmland, Save Town

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. refused to issue an order Sunday evening blocking U.S. officials from breaking a levee in an effort to save a small Illinois town. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the break, which will flood 130,000 acres of farmland…

May 2, 2011 11:36 AM CDT