|
| Headline |
Author |
Published |
Section |
It's a Christmas Miracle!
Judge tosses out Big Auto's suit against California |
|
12 Dec 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 12:02 PM on 12 Dec 2007 Automakers must have been bad this year, because Santa has given them a big holiday disappointment. And by Santa we mean U.S. District Judge Anthony Ishii, who today declared that California has the authority to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from vehicles, and tossed out automakers' lawsuit against the state. Automakers had sued in 2004 when California passed a law requiring vehicl ... |
|
| Topics: Big Auto, California, cars, climate, greenhouse-gas emissions, litigation, news (all these topics) |
|
|
Supreme preemption
Medical device case could impact global warming debate |
Guest author |
06 Dec 2007 |
Gristmill |
| The following is a guest post written by Sean Siperstein, who maintains the blog Warming Law on behalf of the Community Rights Counsel, a public interest law firm in Washington, DC. Warming Law was launched following the Supreme Court's landmark Massachusetts v. EPA ruling, with a focus on the evolving legal landscape impacting the climate movement. ----- In last week's negotiations over the energy bill, one of the most significant victories for propone ... |
|
| Topics: business, climate, energy, legislation, litigation, politics (all these topics) |
|
|
Loggin' Went a-Courtin'
Part of |
|
06 Dec 2007 |
News |
| "Healthy Forests" law struck down by court for skirting eco-reviews Posted at 6:48 AM on 06 Dec 2007 A key part of the Bush administration's "Healthy Forests" law, passed in 2003, was effectively struck down this week by a federal appeals court. The "hazardous fuels reduction" rule let the U.S. Forest Service get out of analyzing the environmental impacts of timber sales up to 1,000 acres in size and prescribed burns up to 4,500 acre ... |
|
| Topics: deforestation, litigation, news, United States, US Forest Service (all these topics) |
|
|
Bringing Down the Grouse
Bush admin ignored best science when considering sage grouse species protections |
|
05 Dec 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 6:23 AM on 05 Dec 2007 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must reconsider its decision not to list the greater sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act, a federal judge ruled this week. The judge said that the FWS ignored the best available science on the species when deciding whether to list it in 2005; he also expressed doubts about the efficacy of the agency's entire decisi ... |
|
| Topics: endangered species, litigation, news, United States, US Fish and Wildlife Service (all these topics) |
|
|
Decide Effects
Kansas Supreme Court to hear case against landmark coal-plant permit denial |
|
30 Nov 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 7:02 AM on 30 Nov 2007 In October, Kansas made an important first by denying a construction permit to a coal-fired power plant due to its carbon dioxide emissions, saying such emissions could harm human health and the environment. The companies behind the $3.6 billion project, as well as other business groups, were outraged by the decision. (Enviros rejoiced.) Attack ads were launched and lawsui ... |
|
| Topics: climate, coal, Kansas, litigation, news (all these topics) |
|
|
Angrier By the Dozen
EPA sued by 12 states over relaxed toxic-chemical rule |
|
29 Nov 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 6:07 AM on 29 Nov 2007 The U.S. EPA's moves to relax the nation's toxics reporting rule will not go unchallenged. Twelve states have announced they're suing the agency over rule changes to the Toxics Release Inventory that allow companies to file less-informative reports and escape reporting if they release less than 5,000 pounds of toxic chemicals, up from the previous threshold, set under President Reagan, o ... |
|
| Topics: litigation, news, toxics, United States, US EPA (all these topics) |
|
|
A Toy Named Sue
California sues over lead-tainted toys |
|
19 Nov 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 1:00 PM on 19 Nov 2007 The state of California, which never met an environmental fustercluck it didn't want to litigate, has filed a lawsuit accusing 20 companies -- including Mattel and Toys R Us -- of making or selling products containing "unlawful quantities of lead." source: Los Angeles Times see also, in Grist: An illustration and explanation of tainted toys From the Archives They Were Co ... |
|
| Topics: California, green living, litigation, news, toxics (all these topics) |
|
|
We Love It When This Happens!
Bush administration's fuel-economy regs for bigger vehicles smacked down |
|
15 Nov 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 5:50 PM on 15 Nov 2007 A federal appeals court has rejected the Bush administration's fuel-economy regulations for 2008-2011 model light trucks and SUVs. In the scathing tone that the Bushies are becoming quite familiar with, the judges declared that the regulations did not consider the economic impact of vehicle emissions' contribution to climate change, and ordered the Transportati ... |
|
| Topics: Big Auto, Department of Transportation, fuel efficiency, litigation, news, politics, progress (all these topics) |
|
|
Where It Stops, Nobody Knows
Navy must adopt safeguards for whales in 2008, says court |
|
14 Nov 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 11:54 AM on 14 Nov 2007 Update on the seemingly endless saga of whether the U.S. Navy should restrict underwater sonar use in the interest of whale health: A federal appeals court has ruled that while the Navy may continue its current training exercises in southern California as is, exercises that begin in January must operate under better safeguards for marine mammals. The plan will have to be appro ... |
|
| Topics: California, Department of Defense, litigation, news, oceans, wildlife (all these topics) |
|
|
Banana Split
Six farmworkers compensated for pesticide exposure, six cases dismissed |
|
06 Nov 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 3:00 PM on 06 Nov 2007 Six farmworkers who became sterile after working on a Nicaraguan banana plantation three decades ago were awarded a total $3.3 million from Dole Food Co. and Dow Chemical, after a judge agreed that the corporations "actively suppressed information about" the "reproductive toxicity" of now-banned pesticide DBCP. Six other plaintiffs with a similar claim had th ... |
|
| Topics: agriculture, business, health, industrial ag, litigation, news, Nicaragua, toxics (all these topics) |
|
|
Pay It Backward
Court ruling may save oil companies billions in royalties |
|
02 Nov 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 11:46 AM on 02 Nov 2007 A federal judge in Louisiana ruled this week that oil and gas companies who signed leases for deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico between 1996 and 2000 do not have to pay royalties to the federal government when the price of oil and gas go over a certain threshold. The oil company Kerr-McGee sued the U.S. Interior Department after the agency tried to collect royalties for some product ... |
|
| Topics: Department of Interior, litigation, news, oil and gas drilling, United States (all these topics) |
|
|
The Early Lawsuit Gets the Worm
Groups will sue over protections for giant spitting worm |
|
31 Oct 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 10:06 AM on 31 Oct 2007 No Halloween would be complete without an update on the Palouse earthworm, which can grow up to three feet long, spits on predators, and smells like flowers -- even when not in costume. The pinkish-white worm was denied federal endangered-species protection earlier this month on the grounds that the filed request was incomplete and unclear. "This is absurd!" says S ... |
|
| Topics: endangered species, litigation, news, US Fish and Wildlife Service, wildlife (all these topics) |
|
|
Exx Appeal
U.S. Supreme Court to hear appeal of Exxon Valdez damage award |
|
30 Oct 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 6:07 AM on 30 Oct 2007 The U.S. Supreme Court agreed this week to hear ExxonMobil's appeal of the $2.5 billion in damages it was ordered to pay for the disastrous 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. An Alaskan jury in 1994 originally ordered the company to pay $5 billion in damages, but the amount was cut in half by an appeals court last December. Now the $39.5-billion-a-year company is hoping the Supremes will further ... |
|
| Topics: litigation, news, oil, United States (all these topics) |
|
|
It's a Fine Day
BP settles three federal investigations |
|
26 Oct 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 3:14 PM on 26 Oct 2007 Oil giant BP settled three federal investigations yesterday. Drumroll please ... In regards to the 2005 Texas refinery explosion that killed 15 workers, BP will admit it is Beyond Guilty to felony charges of violating the Clean Air Act and not enforcing safety standards, and will pay a $50 million fine. In regards to last year's snafu with leaky oil pipelines in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, the company will plead g ... |
|
| Topics: Big Oil, energy, litigation, news, politics (all these topics) |
|
|
In the Line of Fire
California delays lawsuit against EPA due to wildfires |
|
24 Oct 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 9:26 AM on 24 Oct 2007 Photo: Kevin Labianco The lawsuit California threatened to file against the U.S. EPA for delaying a pending decision on the state's 2005 vehicle greenhouse-gas emissions law was not filed today as expected. It's been stalled due to raging wildfires. sources: Reuters, The New York Times From the Archives Those Who Repeat the Past Are Doomed to Know It. Study of f ... |
|
| Topics: California, climate, litigation, news (all these topics) |
|
|
Catch a Waiver and You're Sittin' on Top of the World
California to sue EPA to force decision on vehicle-emissions waiver |
|
22 Oct 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 8:26 AM on 22 Oct 2007 California is expected to follow through on its threat to sue the U.S. EPA this week for not yet deciding whether to give the state the waiver it needs to implement its 2002 law limiting greenhouse-gas emissions from cars. The state's law requires a nearly 30 percent reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2016, which experts say can only r ... |
|
| Topics: California, climate change mitigation, litigation, news, US EPA (all these topics) |
|
|
Taking 'Cides
Fight over disclosure of pesticide ingredients heats up in California |
|
19 Oct 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 6:57 AM on 19 Oct 2007 In California, a battle is raging over a pesticide that critics say is sickening hundreds of residents as it's being sprayed over large swaths of Monterey County to battle a crop-destroying moth. Residents who became ill after the first application of the pesticide want to know what's in it that could cause asthma-like symptoms, rashes, stomach pains, and burning eyes. But regula ... |
|
| Topics: agriculture, California, litigation, news, toxics (all these topics) |
|
|
Report Barred
Judge delays work on border fence per insufficient environmental report |
|
11 Oct 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 1:40 PM on 11 Oct 2007 The Bush administration tried to "ram" through an insufficient environmental report and must temporarily cease work on a 1.5-mile-long section of fence on the Arizona-Mexico border, a federal judge ruled yesterday. Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle agreed with the Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club that federal agencies' three-week-long environmental assessment seemed ... |
|
| Topics: Arizona, litigation, Mexico, national security, news, politics, Sierra Club (all these topics) |
|
|
Settling the Scourge
AEP settlement exempts company from enforcement for 10 years |
|
11 Oct 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 10:56 AM on 11 Oct 2007 Earlier this week brought news of a settlement agreement between utility giant American Electric Power and the U.S. EPA in which the company agreed to install some $4.6 billion in pollution controls at some of its power plants and pay over $70 million in penalties and cleanup costs. Today, The Washington Post reported that the agreement contained language exempting the company from ... |
|
| Topics: business, litigation, news, United States, US EPA (all these topics) |
|
|
Planet of the AEP
Utility company AEP to pay billions in acid-rain settlement |
|
09 Oct 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 6:45 AM on 09 Oct 2007 The utility company American Electric Power has agreed to pay some $4.6 billion to reduce acid-rain-causing emissions from some of its power plants in the U.S. Northeast, as well as $60 million to clean up specific waterways and parks, and $15 million in civil penalties, all to settle a long-running lawsuit brought by the U.S. EPA, nine states, and over a dozen environmental groups in ... |
|
| Topics: coal, litigation, news, United States (all these topics) |
|
|
Justice in Time
Court rulings are appealed left and right |
|
08 Oct 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 4:04 PM on 08 Oct 2007 Automakers are appealing a court decision that allows states to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from automobiles. Green groups are appealing the U.S. EPA's decision to issue a permit for a new coal-fired power plant in Utah. W.R. Grace & Co. is appealing reinstatement of charges that it knowingly concealed dangers associated with asbestos mining. And Jake Gyllenhaal is just appealing. Yum. sources: ... |
|
| Topics: litigation, news, politics (all these topics) |
|
|
What's Up, Doc?
U.K. judge rules Inconvenient Truth partisan but still OK to show in schools |
|
03 Oct 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 12:48 PM on 03 Oct 2007 A judge has ruled on a British citizen's accusation that the United Kingdom's distribution of An Inconvenient Truth to secondary schools amounts to political indoctrination. And the strange, strange verdict is: Yes, the documentary can be shown in schools -- as long as teachers follow guidelines to not promote Al Gore's "partisan political views" to impressiona ... |
|
| Topics: Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, climate, climate change skepticism, education, England, litigation, news, politics (all these topics) |
|
|
Into the Breach
DOE hasn't opened Yucca nuclear-waste dump, must pay millions for breach of contract |
|
01 Oct 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 2:52 PM on 01 Oct 2007 As if the saga of Nevada's Yucca Mountain wasn't ridiculous enough, a court has ruled that the Department of Energy's failure to open the nuclear-waste repository on time will have a price tag of $116.5 million, payable to Xcel Energy for breach of contract. And just to remind you of the ridiculousness, in the words of Minnesota State Senator Ellen Anderson: &quo ... |
|
| Topics: Department of Energy, energy, litigation, Nevada, news, nuclear power, politics, waste (all these topics) |
|
|
Dimmockery
British citizen sues government over distribution of climate-change film to schools |
|
28 Sep 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 2:09 PM on 28 Sep 2007 In July, a judge ruled that the British government's decision to send Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth documentary to 3,500 English secondary schools did not constitute political indoctrination of children. British citizen and fun-name owner Stewart Dimmock disagrees, and is suing his government to quash the dastardly distribution. Dimmock claims the "irredeemable&quo ... |
|
| Topics: An Inconvenient Truth, climate, climate change skepticism, dimwittery, education, litigation, news, politics, United Kingdom (all these topics) |
|
|
Fall From Grace
Charges reinstated against company that allegedly exposed small town to asbestos |
|
21 Sep 2007 |
News |
| Posted at 1:56 PM on 21 Sep 2007 The long-running legal battle over whether chemical company W.R. Grace knowingly exposed thousands of residents of Libby, Mont., to asbestos has taken an upswing: an appeals court has reinstated environmental and conspiracy charges against the company, which were thrown out by a federal judge last year. Next stop, trial; if convicted, Grace could be fined up to $280 ... |
|
| Topics: litigation, mining, Montana, news, toxics (all these topics) |
|
|
|
©2008. Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. Gloom and doom with a sense of humor®.