PJM Power Providers Group v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
The Third Circuit denied three petitions for review in a long-running dispute over whether and to what extent state-subsidized energy resources should be subject to price mitigation in interstate capacity auctions. Energy generators and state public utilities commissions challenged FERC's acceptance...
Idaho Conservation League v. Poe
The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for an environmental group in a suit against a California resident who engaged in instream suction dredge mining in Idaho’s South Fork Clearwater River without an NPDES permit. The group argued the resident violated the CWA each time he operated a suctio...
Calumet Shreveport Refining, L.L.C. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency
The Fifth Circuit, 2-1, granted six small refineries' petitions to review an EPA decision denying their requested exemptions from obligations under the CAA Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program. The refineries challenged two actions—EPA's denial of 36 petitions from 36 small refineries seeking exe...
New Orleans v. Apache Louisiana Minerals, LLC
A district court denied the city of New Orleans' motion to remand to state court its lawsuit against oil companies for allegedly damaging coastal wetlands with their operations. The city initially sued the companies in state court, arguing they violated the Louisiana State and Local Coastal Resource...
Port Arthur Community Action Network v. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
The Fifth Circuit vacated the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's (TCEQ's) order granting a PSD permit for a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Texas. An environmental group petitioned for review, arguing TCEQ erred by not imposing the same emissions limits for carbon monoxide and n...
Hill v. United States Department of the Interior
A district court granted DOI's motion to dismiss a lawsuit concerning tribal water rights on the Crow Reservation in Montana. Tribal members who hold property on the reservation challenged the 2010 Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act (Settlement Act), which provided benefits to the tribe in excha...
Idaho Conservation League v. Bonneville Power Administration
The Ninth Circuit, 2-1, denied environmental groups' petition to review the Bonneville Power Administration's (BPA's) decision setting power rates for the 2022-2023 fiscal period. The groups argued BPA violated the Northwest Power Act (NWPA) by setting rates that failed to comply with its duty to pr...
O'Reilly v. United States Army Corps of Engineers
The Fifth Circuit reversed a district court ruling upholding the Army Corps of Engineers' decision to issue a CWA §404 permit to fill wetlands for a commercial and residential development project in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. Parish residents and environmental groups argued the Corps' decision ...
Kanawha Forest Coalition v. Keystone WV
A district court granted in part and denied in part summary judgment for environmental groups in a CWA/SMCRA citizen suit concerning the discharge of pollutants from surface coal mines in West Virginia. The groups argued a coal mining company violated the CWA by discharging mining pollutants at Rush...