The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana recently found, among other things, that plaintiffs lacked standing to bring claims for injunctive relief under the Clean Water Act, CERCLA, and the Endangered Species Act (ESA), relating to the explosion and capsizing of the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico. See In re: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig "Deepwater Horizon" in the Gulf of Mexico, on April 20, 2010 (MDL No. 2179) (Jun. 16, 2011). The court reasoned:
Although an injunction need not return the waters to the pre-spill state, it must, however, provide some benefit or reduction in pollution. *** In this case, no such benefit may be achieved by the Court's injunction. In fact, the injunction at this stage would be useless, as not only is there no ongoing release from the well, but there is also no viable offshore facility from which any release could possibly occur.
Additionally, the court rejected the claim that the violations could be considered "ongoing" for purposes of pursuing the federal environmental citizen suit claims - "First, there is no longer any facility from which a release could occur. Second, there have been multiple closures of the well, which leaves no reasonable possibility that there will be any release in the future." Good decision.
You can find more here (including a copy of the order and a brief history).