Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/tag/green-gavel/page/7/)
Green Gavel is an occasional series of stories about court decisions affecting the Great Lakes environment.
Government agencies say company owner removed arsenic, chromium, lead, selenium and other hazardous chemicals from a bankrupt facility in Keene, New Hampshire, without a permit and took the materials to his facility in Owego.
The state changed its mind whether a permit is needed to store water treatment residuals there.
Local conservancy argues that sale violates prohibition on dividing land, makes it less viable for agriculture and harder to manage the easement.
The prosecution said the company failed to inspect asbestos debris and pools of water, comply with pretesting waiting periods, properly calibrate pumps and perform air sampling and decontamination of equipment.
Traps used to catch coyotes killing birds on hunting preserve also caught neighbor’s dog.
The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that the elk-breeding facility waited too long to sue after the state shut it down during a year-long chronic wasting disease quarantine. An appeal to the state Supreme Court is likely.
Lawyer unsuccessfully argues that deer bred and raised in captivity are not wildlife.
Three people plead guilty to illegally removing asbestos from a former Southwest Michigan power plant. They are now facing possible prison terms after agreeing to reimburse the federal government for approximately $1 million to clean up the contaminated facility in Kalamazoo County’s Comstock Township.
Under the Ohio Supreme Court’s ruling, Beck Energy Corp. will continue to drill for oil, despite the objection of Ohio city, Munroe Falls.
Case examines issues of trespass, navigability and commercial use.