A district court granted partial summary judgment for environmental groups in a CWA citizen suit concerning water quality standards for mercury in Idaho. The groups argued that EPA's failure to promptly publish and promulgate mercury standards after disapproving Idaho's revision of those standards v...

A district court granted summary judgment for environmental groups in an ongoing dispute over a Hawaii county's release of pollutants into injection wells at a wastewater reclamation facility near the Pacific Ocean. The groups argued the county violated the CWA by failing to obtain an NPDES permit f...

The Wisconsin Supreme Court held, 4-2, that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) had the explicit authority to impose an animal unit maximum condition and an off-site groundwater monitoring condition on a Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) permit it reissued to ...

The First Circuit vacated a district court order staying a CWA and RCRA citizen suit brought against an oil company. An environmental group argued, among other things, that the company had violated CWA and RCRA by failing to account for climate change factors at its petroleum storage and distributio...

The Seventh Circuit affirmed dismissal of a CWA citizen suit brought against the owner of a coal-fired power plant in Illinois. An environmental group argued the owner violated the CWA by discharging coal ash pollutants from its plant into groundwater that in turn entered the Middle Fork of the Verm...

A district court granted partial summary judgment in a CWA citizen suit brought against the owner of a mine in Washington. The state of Washington and an environmental group argued the mine owner had violated various terms of its NPDES permit. The owner asserted the claims were barred because there ...

A district court granted a conservation group's motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit concerning a California resident's recreational gold mining in a river in Idaho. The group argued the defendant violated the CWA by suction dredge mining during the 2014, 2015, and 2018 dredging seasons without ...

The Ninth Circuit, 2-1, affirmed in part and reversed in part dismissal of a challenge to EPA's withdrawal of a previously proposed determination restricting mining operations in part of southwest Alaska's Bristol Bay watershed. A conservation group had argued the withdrawal violated the CWA and EPA...

The D.C. Circuit vacated EPA's authorization of the pesticide aldicarb for use on oranges and grapefruit in Florida. EPA had moved to remand without vacatur. The court found the Agency itself acknowledged it did not make an effects determination as required by §7(a)(2) of the ESA, and that it admit...

The Ninth Circuit remanded, 2-1, a rule EPA promulgated in 2019 in response to the court's 2017 writ of mandamus directing the Agency to respond to the need for updated lead-based paint hazard standards. Nonprofit groups argued the rule violated provisions of the the Residential Lead-Based Paint Haz...